I think the most overhyped game, especailly when the entire season is taken in context, will be Tennessee and the Gators. Iowa, Tennessee, and Arizona State are riding a ton of good will based on a bowl win. Florida, who stunk it up against Miami, are benefiting from Urban myth. Frankly, the War Turkeys are more deserving of a pre-season build up than either the Vols or Florida.
Iowa had a pretty damn good season and is returning some great players...I think they are well deserved of any top 5 ranking...
I ordered their Southeastern regional cover issue (with LSU on the front). Since it came to me in the mail yesterday, I can tell you EXACTLY who they have in their top 3. 1. USC 2. TENNESSEE 3. IOWA The one DISTURBING feature is an article in their "extra points" column that reads: "THE PAC-10: Power Conference of the New Millennium?" I almost wanted to throw the magazine away at that point.... The title was based on the "League Record vs Teams from Other BCS Leagues" where the PAC-10 was 48-46 while the BIG XII (57-57) and SEC (47-47) were at .500. Yeah...I guess you get winning numbers when you put the PAC-10's top teams vs everyone else's garbage ones...
I guess in order to be a 'power conference' you only have to have one decent team year in and year out. Having 6-8 top 25 caliber teams every year doesn't quite do the trick. :dis: It's just a conspiracy so that they can swing from SoCal's nuts regardless of what they do. 'Yeah, we know they lost 3 games this year. But they're far more deserving of the Rose Bowl bid than the undefeated LSU or Iowa because of their powerhouse conference.'
Ditto. the Hawkeyes passed under a lot of radars last year but they are coming back loaded with arguably one of the best coaches in college football.
That's sad - my bet is that only one of those teams ends up being in the top 5 at the end of next year. USC will lose atleast one game, but that won't be enough to drop them from the top 5. Tennessee will lose atleast 2 games. Iowa has a good team & I'll be cheering for them but I think it's more likely they end up ranked 5-10th come the end of next year. There's alot of teams with hype around them that I think are going to underperform (Texas, USC, Tennessee, Florida, the other USC, etc). Then there are the teams with some questions but alot of promise (Ohio St, LSU). It will be interesting to see who rises to the challenge. I just hope LSU is one of them.
The Hawks may be too high at #3... it really all depends on what tOSU really has this year... I think they're loaded. As stated before, we play tOSU the same weekend you play the Vols... much will be determined that weekend. Good Luck to us both!!!
I'm not sure why Tennessee is being plugged so high... Are they simply not taking into consideration all of Tennessee's injuries, surgical procedures and rehab. assignments? The loss on the DL of Jones, McBride, Hostetter and potential loss of Mahelona, if his hand doesn't heal properly? But then again, UT has Notre Dame on their schedule. What better way to boost Notre Dame stock by being able to hang with a highly ranked Tennessee team again?
