My pre-season top 5: Subject to change after spring 1. Ohio State 2. West Virginia - They will probably be undefeated until bowl time 3. LSU 4. USC 5. Miami
This was not a bad pick. If you remember the game, it could have gone either way and LSU was lucky to walk away with the win. Oklahoma was being hyped as one of the best teams EVER before the Big XII championship game. Herbstreit thought Oklahoma would bounce back after that game and play even better than they had all year. He was still buying the hype, and based off that it wasn't a bad pick. So what if every analysts doesn't like us. So what if one freaking person has a tendency to pick against us. Does it hurt your feelings?
You had crawled in your hole for a while... We shall see, but I think I'll be proven right for the future. You too shall change your mind.
texas wouldnt have even been in the top 25 without vince young, and when they put texas top 5 without him next year thats just funny. Auburn should be top 10 and maybe top 5 with their young talent and sec defense. Notre Dame's coach will get it done next year and they will be in the top 5, but usc with their pretty boys leaving no way top 5. If LSU can get the qb thing figured out in the spring and they get any consistancy in their O nobody can beat them.
Hmm, a popular pick at the moment. People have a tendency to let a bowl game influence their opinion too much. West Virgina was not a great team. Georgia laid an egg to start the game. When they started playing real ball, they almost came back and won. West Virginia will be a good team next year, but will have 2 losses before the bowls. I'm curious what happens with them. They could use the Peach Bowl as incentive to work really hard and prove something next year, but I honestly think that like USC did to Oklahoma in 03, we took away Miami's swagger. They won't have it all together next year.
Well the ES-PENIS-N lovefest for USC hasn't wained in the off season. I was watching Sportscenter tonight and there was a special on how USC has reloaded. :dis:
:rofl: Some of the best recruiting in the country the past few years... Mack Brown has averaged over 10 wins a season at UT (including pre-VY). They have been a top 10/5 team every year, and that won't change because VY isn't there. They still play in the same crappy conference. Careful, ND won't get the advantage of playing teams like Michigan & Tennessee at extreme low points next year. You are buying the hype too much. ND was a decent team last year, maybe worthy of a teens ranking. Why? I can name several teams on LSU's schedule next year capable of beating us. There is no qb thing to be figured out.
Capable? Sure. Any team that can put 22 guys on the field is capable. But it seems as though many are grossly underestimating the importance of returning so many skill positions. Of course the lines are important. But, really, until the Peach Bowl, our O-line was more of a liability than anything else last year. Between the penalties and lack of protection, I don't see how we can't be at least as good as we were in 2005. And the D-line has been recruited extremely well the past few years. I don't expect the kind of dominance that Wroten and Williams gave us. That would be unreasonable. However, I also don't expect the games to be nearly as close as they were last season due to our vastly experienced offense. I honestly believe that the offense found its swagger/identity in the Peach Bowl, and will carry it into next season. I agree. Flynn's got it taken care of.:hihi:
I didn't mean capable in that sense. I meant beyond reasonably capable, as in a very possible loss. Auburn & Florida in particular will be top 10 teams. That's because our skill position players weren't particularly impressive last year. Returning starters don't mean that much if they weren't that good. QB play = good. WRs = decent. RBs = don't have a single proven one (Broussard isn't near 100%). If they had been great, I would agree with you. Strong lines are often a staple for championship teams, it's actually usually the thing most overlooked by analysts as skill position players get the most press. I was one of the people agreeing with you that our O-line was underperforming all season. With our current starting line up, I think we can be as good as last year - what worries me is depth. I think by the end of the season, our DLine will be just as good as it was with those two guys. That's because you think Flynn will be the starting QB. He won't. You'll see soon enough.