College Football 2010

[U2inUtah]

/sigh, I suppose I can just continue to dream of that conference for the rest of my days .

Ha! I don't feel at all bad for TCU. You are joining a conference with an automatic BCS bowl bid, and arguably THE BEST basketball conference in the nation. (although TCU's basketball program will have to step it up to compete ) BYU had to dump their basketball in the WCC.

Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida and UConn all have solid football programs. I am sure some nice football rivalries will develop between TCU and these schools in the future

 

[bono_212]

Haha, I do feel bad for TCU, we're going to be the embarrassment of the Big East in basketball, you are far too kind to our team.

 

[Blue Room]

I think being an independent program is going to be a bad place to be in about 5-7 years. Any conference with 12 or more teams is most likely going to expand the conference schedule and the non conference games are going to be cream puff type games only, almost like a pre season. The Big 10(12) is most likely going to this model in about 5 years. Which means ND is going to have to schedule non Big 10(12) games as the conference teams will want a cream puff home game vs a home and away series with a potential decent team. Financially it makes no sense to do the away game under that scenario. The scuttlebutt I have heard is that Michigan is going to opt out on the ND contract (which apparantly was never officially signed) when this happens.

 

[U2inUtah]

I had heard Michigan recently said they wouldn't play any more non-conference road games. (Some BYU fans had hoped to schedule a home-home or 2 for 1 with Michigan). I guess with a tough Big 10 schedule, you can't really blame them. Load up with 3 MAC/FCS home games to warm up for conference play.

This all seems to be leading to the BCS conferences completely breaking away from the non-BCS to form a separate division, which sucks if you are on the outside looking in...and yes, Independence is on the outside, for BYU anyway.

 

[Blue Room]

I had heard Michigan recently said they wouldn't play any more non-conference road games. (Some BYU fans had hoped to schedule a home-home or 2 for 1 with Michigan). I guess with a tough Big 10 schedule, you can't really blame them. Load up with 3 MAC/FCS home games to warm up for conference play.

This all seems to be leading to the BCS conferences completely breaking away from the non-BCS to form a separate division, which sucks if you are on the outside looking in...and yes, Independence is on the outside, for BYU anyway.

Mainly it is about money. Lets face it, College Football is just a huge business. Michigan's athletic director has basically said scheduling a non conference road game makes no financial sense. Why do that when I can sell 113000 tickets at home and give our fans another chance to see us play at home? Financially, unfortunately, he is correct. Quite honestly I thought Michigan should have dropped Notre Dame when they would not join the Big 10 (12). Michigan does not need to play them. We already have two other rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State that we will play every single year regardless. My favorite quote by Michigan's late coach Bo Schembechler who though the same thing. "To hell with Notre Dame!" RIP Bo

Basically at the Big 10(12) meeting this week schools were told to clear their schedules by 2017. They are moving to a 9 game conference schedule then. I think it should be 10 conference games. But I think moving to at least 9 is a good move and I think Michigan should drop ND at that point, for good. As well as all other Big 10(12) teams which would be Purdue and Michigan State that also play them regularly.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Very much looking forward to this season. I think the schedule sits in our favor, and we could make a pretty damn solid run. Knock on wood.

Scheelhaase is a baller. Need to see who steps up as a consistent replacement for Leshoure, though. Some strong candidates.

 

[trojanchick99]

Just over a month till USC's first game. Should be an interesting year to say the least. Our issue, which is huge, is lack of depth on the O-Line. I hope Barkley survives.

Pac-12 should be interesting. North I would imagine will come down to Oregon and Stanford. Though we shall see how The Farm fares with their new coach.
The South is Utah, Arizona and you can't really count out USC.

 

[Blue Room]

I have no idea what to expect from Michigan this year. New coach, new offense, new defense. My guess is somewhere between 7-5, 8-4 or if they are better than expected and get some breaks 9-3 at best. Probably 7-5, but win the bowl game so 8-5 to finish.

 

[bono_212]

I have no idea what to expect of TCU, but I'm not optimistic.

 

[trojanchick99]

I must say, having lowered expectations is certainly less stressful than expecting to compete for the BCS every season.

Although, I will be happy to be stressed the hell out in a few years again.

 

[bono_212]

Since we're going to an AQ next season next year anyways, I feel like I don't need to stress so much about it regardless. This season doesn't feel as make or break as it did before. The ONLY positive to the move in my opinion. That being said, it still would've been great to see another year like the last two, but I feel like we lost too many key players this time around, but who knows what Patterson has up his sleeve.

 

[trojanchick99]

Understandable. I'm anticipating improvement in our defense, but our issue will be depth. We are thin. Stupid NCAA.

 

[Imperor]

Hey, we get to be ranked for one week!

 

[bono_212]

Ugh, here we go. I get to start receiving bitchy phone calls from my dad any time now.

 

[u2popmofo]

Hey, we get to be ranked for one week!

Better than only getting 5 votes.

 

[LMP]

Top 5? Didn't see that coming.

 

[trojanchick99]

Better than only getting 5 votes.

Or not being eligible for the poll at all.

 

[u2popmofo]

Top 5? Didn't see that coming.

I cursed your name earlier in my head. Well, screen name at least.

 

[PhilsFan]

I've been told Penn State is ranked in some poll, even though their only decent QB option was just declared academically ineligible for the second straight year.

 

[trojanchick99]

I've been told Penn State is ranked in some poll, even though their only decent QB option was just declared academically ineligible for the second straight year.

2 years in a row? That takes talent. I don't understand with all the help these guys get why they can't maintain a 2.0. It's not like they are engineering majors.

So who will be QB for you guys?

 

[PhilsFan]

Last year they were able to just redshirt Paul Jones to let him get his grades up. This year he's just straight up ineligible. The sad part is he's definitely the best option. And Newsome is transferring, though that's no surprise.

It'll be Bolden or McGloin again. Probably Bolden. It doesn't matter. They're both average on their best days.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

preseason polls are meaningless

 

[Imperor]

You don't have to tell me.

 

[speedracer]

preseason polls are meaningless

No they aren't, and that's a big problem.

 

[LemonMelon]

Hey Jake, what do the coaches know about FSU that I don't? #5?!

EDIT: Never mind. Hadn't seen what happened with Jameis Winston.

 

[LMP]

preseason polls are meaningless

I wish that they were. September 17th, holmes.

Hey Jake, what do the coaches know about FSU that I don't? #5?!

EDIT: Never mind. Hadn't seen what happened with Jameis Winston.

The hype's based off of how they finished last season, this past season's #1 recruiting class, how many players are coming back on offense and defense. We lost two All-Americans off of the offensive line, which is my main concern.

I think that we're in a better place than Miami and Florida right now, but those games are always tough to gauge. The conference schedule isn't too severe. BC at home will be tough and Clemson and NC State are competitive. Virginia Tech's still the team to beat in the ACC. I do like the path towards national relevance though.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

No they aren't, and that's a big problem.

If you don't take care of business along the way then they are pointless.

This is a decent reality check article which states that during the last 9 years only 1 preseason number 1 team has ended the season as BCS Champion. Yeah, five of those preseason #1 teams made it to the BCS Championship game, but 4 did not.

Preseason #1 Reality Check
by dishingoutdimes on Aug 4, 2011 8:56 PM CDT in Football

As the table above shows, there has not been a great "championship rate" for teams ranked at the top of the preseason Coaches Poll, as the Oklahoma Sooners are this season. Only one team in the last 9 years ended the season as the BCS National Champion, and that team had their championship vacated.

Between 2002 and 2006, however, every team that was the "Preseason #1" qualified for the BCS National Championship Game, certainly a notable accomplishment. From 2007 through now, that trend has reversed, despite two teams coming close (USC in 2007, and Florida in 2009). I think the reversal of this trend may have something to do with the widely held opinion that parity has increased in college football. Voters are therefore more likely to rank a team that is not a traditional powerhouse near the top of the polls in recent years. Put another way, if you are ranked #1 and you lose, there is an increasingly vast pool of teams that pollsters are willing to give a shot.

Matt Hinton at the Dr. Saturday blog nutshells the Sooners' ranking nicely:

With the right brand on the side of the helmet, a high-profile quarterback, 18 returning starters and a lopsided bowl win can still take you a long way.

The Sooners do have a fairly difficult schedule on paper with three games against preseason Top-10 teams, two of those on the road. Even though all those games are preceded by either an unranked opponent or a bye week, it's hard to ignore the road splits from 2010 for Landry Jones (167.36 passer rating at home, vs. 134.05 away from home; interceptions 2 to 10 respectively). He has yet to post a passer rating above 135 in a game against a ranked opponent away from home in two seasons, and has a 2-6 record as a starter in such games (although he won the most recent two, against Oklahoma St. and Nebraska).

With a pass heavy offense, it's pretty obvious the Sooners need to correct these trends if they want to have a shot at a title. Part of that responsibility lies with Landry. Part of it also lies with new offensive coordinators Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell, to put Landry in better positions to make plays than Kevin Wilson did in high-profile road games.

While its good to be "# 1" i think i would really rather be #3 or #4 right about now. Then when the inevitable happens; the upset or say #1 just loses to another highly ranked, really good team (like a Florida State, Oklahoma State, for example), then you can slide into the top spots at the right time.

The team knows this, the coaches know this, and we have been here before...being preseason number 1 is nice but meaningless unless you take care of business every step of the way. We have a very difficult schedule and while we should technically win every game we could just as easily lose any one of them:

Looking at our schedule, we will have a battle on our hands every week with the number 1 crosshairs on our chest. We are playing no less than five top 25 teams:

@ number 5 FSU 9/17
at home against number 21 Missouri 9/24
in Dallas on that neutral field against number 24 Texas which is always a dogfight no matter who's-who, 10/8
in Norman against a very good number 9 ATM 11/5
and back to Stillwater again this year to play number 8 Oklahoma State 12/3

If we make it through this brutal season undefeated, we have every right to be in the National Championship game. Thats obviously a very tall order but im loooking forward to seeing how it all plays out. I will be there at least half of the time. Scary is going on the road against LMP's Seminoles, and into the house of Boones (Pickens) Farms up in Stoolwater to play Gundy's Cowpokes, which is always a rowdy bunch. And of course any number of things could happen as well. I'm not counting anything on this preseason number one ranking, because not a down has been played, and also it just makes your opponent step up their game even more so they can try and take you out. Missouri did that to us last year when were were #1 in the BCS, they sure showed us! (don't think we've forgotten about that one either).

Just going to take this one day by day, week by week, and game by game. And hopefully the coaches and the players are doing the same. Whatever happens in the end is a long ways down the hot & dirty trail...

 

[trojanchick99]

Agreed, it's important to be ranked high, but not necessarily #1. 2004 is a prime example of that, with Auburn being pre-season 18 and not able to overtake USC or Oklahoma. The other key component is losing early.

I also agree that it's easier to not be Number 1. However, it's also never easy to be Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, USC, Ohio State because of the history involved.

 

[LemonMelon]

TCU is fucked this year because of their pre-season placement and unfavorable schedule; if 12-0 wasn't enough to grant them higher than #3 last year, it certainly won't be this year. I think their placement is about right though...they've lost Andy Dalton and Jeremy Kerley and I definitely feel it's fair to question where their on-field leadership is going to stem from this year. I have no idea how they pulled off a couple of those wins season; their mental and physical toughness was undeniable.

 

[speedracer]

If you don't take care of business along the way then they are pointless.

Obviously if a team loses 1 or more games during the season, they are not very likely to finish #1, but that isn't what I was concerned with.

The "low/unranked team finishing 12-0 and being relegated to a much weaker bowl game than they deserve" scenario is also an injustice but is also not super common.

Much more common is when Team A begins the season highly ranked and ends up with a poor record, or vice versa. If Team B beats Team A early in the season, they will receive more credit for the victory than Team C will for beating Team A late in the season when they're 6-4, and the reverse is true as well.