Time For a Little NCAA Football Talk
August 20, 2008
Ten days. Ten days until the NCAA football season begins. Ten days until the play on the field starts and the talk ends.
It’s also time to briefly discuss how the preseason rankings will change by the beginning of November …
The SI preseason top 10 looks like this:
Georgia
USC
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Florida
Missouri
LSU
West Virginia
Clemson
Auburn
-The Georgia Bulldogs’ Third game of the season will be at Columbia where they play South Carolina. Steve Spurrier still does not have the recruits he needs to make an SEC championship run but his teams are always dangerous. This matchup is great preparation for a three-game stretch at Arizona St. (#15), 24th-ranked Alabama (home game), and No. 18 Tennessee, which is also a home game. The ‘Dogs get a one game rest at home against Vanderbilt before they travel to Baton Rouge to play #7 LSU and then return home to meet #5 Florida.
Can Georgia defeat five ranked teams in six games? If they do, the November 15 game at Auburn becomes a national championship-atmosphere affair. But the Bulldogs will not escape Baton Rouge.
The Bulldogs will enter November with one loss and playing for their BCS Championship lives.
-USC is overrated. That’s right, I said it - overrated. Or, at least as overrated as a Pete Carroll team can be. The Trojans play only three ranked (preseason) teams all year but those three games are front-loaded into the first five weeks of the season.
QB Mark Sanchez questionable for the opener at Virginia which means the beginning of the Sanchez era in Los Angeles will begin the following week against Ohio State.
Not good.
USC’s defense will carry them through the Buckeyes, Oregon, Arizona St. stretch (with a game at Oregon St. between Ohio St. and Oregon) but they will lose to the more experienced Buckeyes.
By November the Trojans’ offense will have coalesced and because they will have lost to OSU early in the season, USC will have every chance to make a BCS Championship run. Just don’t look for them to be undefeated when the time comes.
-Ohio State might be “that team” come November. The Buckeyes as said above, will defeat USC which sets up a remarkably easy Big Ten schedule. The only tough contest for OSU will be a trip to Madison, Wisconsin to play the dangerous at home #13 Badgers.
On October 25 the Buckeyes meet #22 Penn State. However, the Nittany Lions are overrated at 22 and will probably not be ranked by the time they travel to Columbus for a whiiping at the hands of OSU.
Look for Ohio State to emerge as the class of the Big Ten and enter November as the #1 team in the country.
-Oklahoma plays a schedule that can make even Bob Stoops look good. Throughout the season the Sooners meet only three preseason ranked teams, none of which are top ten material.
The September 13 game against Washington will be tricky. But Ty Willingham’s Huskies do not have the speed to keep up with the Sooners for four quarters. That leaves Stoops with the Red River Rivalry game against Texas and a Kansas game at home the following week as his only tough games before November begins.
Oklahoma will crush the Loinghorns and struggle through a game against the Jayhawks that will be tighter than it should be. That will set up the best regular season coach in the country for a late-season run to the Big 12 championship game where the lump in his throat will predictably become very visible.
-How Urban Meyer was able to set up this schedule is beyond me. Rarely does a top SEC team play as few ranked teams as do the Gators (three).
Unfortunately for Meyer, all three games will be played by the first day in November. Game three is at Knoxville, where UF meets Tennessee. But before that game the Gators must play in-state rival, Miami. This is the game that might begin defending Heisman Trophy winner tim Terbow’s downward spiral. Look for the Hurricanes to beat down Timmy T. every chance they get and look for Tebow to leave the game hobbling at least once.
Though Florida will defeat Miami, the Tennessee game will be a different story. The Vols are already angry because they feel Meyer ran up the score on Fuilmer’s squad in the UF 59-21 woodshed whipping of the Vols. And the Tennessee’s defensive line will want to redeem itself for the manhandling it received at the hands of the Gators last year.
Sure the Vols will start a new quarterback in Jonathan Crompton but they do have one of the best and most experienced offensive lines in the country. Should the Vols commit to the run and take pressure off Crompton they will upset the Gators.
And Tebow will face a beating in consecutive weeks.
November begins with a game between the hedges at #1 Georgia. Though the ‘Dogs might not be #1 by that game, they will be raring for a shot at Tebow.
Despite their easy schedule look for Florida to enter November with two losses and the championship dreams washed away.
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I can see Georgia losing, but to LSU? With their quarterback issues? I’m just eager to see how that offense functions.
Lord save us from Ohio State and another BCS championship game where they get their butts handed to them.
S2N-
I know what you mean w/ LSU… it’s that Baton Rouge thing - and the Tigers can play defense, too.
D, that Tiger D is gonna be a beast and I understand that Baton Rouge advantage at home — big time — but I don’t know where LSU gets the points unless they pick Matthew Stafford off three times (possible, he does have only a 54% completion rating). This could be a year where the SEC beats up on its own teams too much for its champion to make the BCS championship game. If we wind up with the winner of USC/OSU taking on Oklahoma, I will not be shocked.
Ricky-Jean Francois is gonna be something sick to watch for LSU on that D-line, though.
USC vs. OSU is all about whose offense plays better; defensively, it’s a wash because they’re both really, really good. However, I think the Trojans may come out of the OSU game with a win because the Buckeyes don’t see defenses that good in the Big 10.
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“Look for the Hurricanes to beat down Timmy T. every chance they get and look for Tebow to leave the game hobbling at least once.”
Couldn’t have put it any better myself:)
If they go to Death Valley in the daytime, the Bulldogs might get out alive. A night game and it’ll be a wrap. I love the Tigers, but I agree with STN. LSU sans Perilloux? Perilous!
On another related tip - don’t you find the preseason rankings a bit ridiculous. Every year there are four or five historic powers who are damn sure going to be 7-6 or 8-5 listed in the Top 25. With the increasing use of the spread, this list is going to look very different until defenses catch up with these Open Source Offenses.
but guys, according to scrapple lips, Ball State has the best QB in the nation!
T3 - I love that. Open Source Offenses. Beautiful.
Looks like the Miami is on it’s way back to dominance. Didn’t Shannon have one of the best recruiting classes in the country? Everybody get your licks in now because its all about that U!!
Last year after the 1st week I picked LSU, because the championship game was in N.O. But this year I have no idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if its Oklahoma.
Oh and Boney Scripple lips is a fool.