Rivals Pre-Spring 2009 rankings

[NorrisHopper30]

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=902748

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. LSU
6. Virginia Tech
7. Ohio State
8. Alabama
9. Boise State
10. Oklahoma State
11. Georgia Tech
12. Ole Miss
13. California
14. Florida State
15. Penn State
16. Kansas
17. Oregon
18. Georgia
19. Iowa
20. TCU
21. USF
22. Utah
23. Notre Dame
24. Oregon State
25. North Carolina

Others considered (in alphabetical order): Arkansas, BYU, Colorado, Houston, Miami, Michigan State, Nebraska, N.C. State, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Click the link for explanations.


My thoughts:

Who's overrated? Underrated?

Overrated
1) Virginia Tech: Yes, they don't lose many people. 6th? No, top 15? Yes.
2) LSU
3) FSU: Yes, they'll be better, but i'd say 15-20 is more like it.
4) Kansas
5) Iowa: No Shonn Green
6) USF: Awful, Grothe is overrated and they won't win the Big East after a huge coaching overhaul. WVU or UC should be the highest ranked team in BE.
7) ND

Underrated
1) Alabama should be top 5.
2) Oregon should be 10-15
3) Penn St should be a little higher, they will be the class of the B10 along with OSU.
4) TCU
5) Oregon State doesn't lose either running back.
6) UC WHERE ARE THE CATS?? Return all playmakers on offense except Goodman (who will be replaced by Jamar Howard) and will be able to plug in athletes on defense to compete in the BE.

[Honor&Glory]

Replacing 10 defensive starters and the most prolific WR in school history on top of a piss poor performace by Pike in the bowl game would say that UC doesn't warrant consideration for the top 25 at this time. The good news is that they didn't get any this year and still won the conference.

[DOG 44]

The pre-season top 25 doesn't mean squat anyways let alone the pre-spring top 25. All it does is give us somehting to talk about while football games are hibernating until spring ball.

[EaglePride01]

Replacing 10 defensive starters and the most prolific WR in school history on top of a piss poor performace by Pike in the bowl game would say that UC doesn't warrant consideration for the top 25 at this time. The good news is that they didn't get any this year and still won the conference.

Agreed. I think UC will have a tough time "plugging in athletes" that are replacing the likes of Mikens, Byrd, Revels, Barwin, and others.

[recently]

Agreed. I think UC will have a tough time "plugging in athletes" that are replacing the likes of Mikens, Byrd, Revels, Barwin, and others.

Revels will be back. He's a redshirt junior.

[EaglePride01]

Revels will be back. He's a redshirt junior.

OK. Thanks for the info. That certainly helps the 'Cats!

[NorrisHopper30]

Agreed. I think UC will have a tough time "plugging in athletes" that are replacing the likes of Mikens, Byrd, Revels, Barwin, and others.

Curtis Young and Alex Daniels got a lot of experience and should fill some D-line holes well, i'm more worried about the DBs. We have a ton of them now, but will any be ready? Dominique Battle should play well, but other than him and Aaron Webster i'm not sure.

[OhioBobcatFan06]

WVU is underrated.

[gclbaseball1]

My title game prediction is Texas verse Florida. Florida wins. GO BUCKS!!!

[Ballgame75]

I gotta think GA is overrated consdiering who they lose.

[nd2000]

[url]
Who's overrated? Underrated?

Overrated
1) Virginia Tech: Yes, they don't lose many people. 6th? No, top 15? Yes.
2) LSU
3) FSU: Yes, they'll be better, but i'd say 15-20 is more like it.
4) Kansas
5) Iowa: No Shonn Green
6) USF: Awful, Grothe is overrated and they won't win the Big East after a huge coaching overhaul. WVU or UC should be the highest ranked team in BE.
7) ND

Underrated
1) Alabama should be top 5.
2) Oregon should be 10-15
3) Penn St should be a little higher, they will be the class of the B10 along with OSU.
4) TCU
5) Oregon State doesn't lose either running back.
6) UC WHERE ARE THE CATS?? Return all playmakers on offense except Goodman (who will be replaced by Jamar Howard) and will be able to plug in athletes on defense to compete in the BE.

Notre Dame @ #23 does not fall into the overrated category. They have a decent amount of talent returning, and the most important thing is that it is EXPERIENCED talent. There are many guys who already have two years of starting experience under their belts and they will only be juniors in the fall.

UC should not be a top 25 team IMO. First of all, they honestly were not top 25 caliber this year. I had them rated #35 in my final poll and I thought it was a joke that they made a BCS game, but that is the way the system works i guess. If UC had played USC, Florida or Texas in their bowl game, they would have lost by a minimum of 25 points to each of those teams.

[bearcatfan]

Notre Dame @ #23 does not fall into the overrated category. They have a decent amount of talent returning, and the most important thing is that it is EXPERIENCED talent. There are many guys who already have two years of starting experience under their belts and they will only be juniors in the fall.

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

[Buck1974]

I am not a ND fan but I do think that ND will be a top 25 team at the end of next season.

[recently]

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

I'm not so sure I can agree with that. I think Notre Dame has some really talented athletes who will play in the NFL someday. At this point I have to attribute ND's problems to Charlie Weis, but I guess we'll find out more next season.

[Jhubbs77]

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

I wouldn't say its overrated. Claussen improved greatly this year and I don't see why he wouldn't continue to get better next season. They have one of the best WR corps in the country and a couple playmakers at RB. The only thing they sucked at this year was run-blocking. That is the key to next season. They finished 39th in total defense this year and have two pretty damn good defensive coordinators. Next year seems like the year things should all come together. I sure wouldn't call them overrated sitting at #23 though. They should finish much higher than that with their schedule barring some kind of meltdown at any point in the season

[nd2000]

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

I don't think so. You will be proven wrong on this one almost certainly. I am not usually high on ND, but they will be a top 20 team next year. Here is their schedule:

vs. Nevada - ND will be favored by double digits
at Michigan - ND has to be favored, don't see an upset here
vs. Michigan State - Spartans may be atrocious next year
at Purdue - Boilers have little talent returning
vs. Washington - ND minus 30 is your spread
vs. USC - Loss
vs. BC - Irish will be at least a TD favorite in this one
vs. Wazzu - ND minus 30 is your spread
vs. Navy - ND by double digits
at Pitt - ND has better talent returning than Pitt does
vs. UCONN - No donald brown
at Stanford - tossup

Of those 11 games, the irish may only be an underdog one time (vs. USC). If they win the tossup games, which really are not against elite programs by any stretch of the imagination, they'll be 11-1. An 11-1 ND team would not be ranked #23 in the nation, rest assured.

[nd2000]

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

ND's biggest problem has been the offensive line and their inablility to push teams around so that their skill players on offense, who are very good, could shine. Against teams that they were able to push around like Navy, Hawaii, Purdue and Stanford, the offense was very good. With the line returning mostly intact, and gaining more maturity and experience, i look for ND to push around many of their opponents next year and the offense will explode.

On defense, ND finished very high in Phil Steele's pass efficiency defense this past year and most of the back seven return next year, so i look for ND to have one of the best pass defenses in the nation next year.

This is going to be a very solid football team in my opinion and could be a darkhorse national title contender given the weak schedule.

[Not Guilty]

On defense, ND finished very high in Phil Steele's pass efficiency defense this past year and most of the back seven return next year, so i look for ND to have one of the best pass defenses in the nation next year.

Walls also returns next year, which can only help.

[bearcatfan]

I don't think so. You will be proven wrong on this one almost certainly. I am not usually high on ND, but they will be a top 20 team next year. Here is their schedule:

vs. Nevada - ND will be favored by double digits
at Michigan - ND has to be favored, don't see an upset here
vs. Michigan State - Spartans may be atrocious next year
at Purdue - Boilers have little talent returning
vs. Washington - ND minus 30 is your spread
vs. USC - Loss
vs. BC - Irish will be at least a TD favorite in this one
vs. Wazzu - ND minus 30 is your spread
vs. Navy - ND by double digits
at Pitt - ND has better talent returning than Pitt does
vs. UCONN - No donald brown
at Stanford - tossup

Of those 11 games, the irish may only be an underdog one time (vs. USC). If they win the tossup games, which really are not against elite programs by any stretch of the imagination, they'll be 11-1. An 11-1 ND team would not be ranked #23 in the nation, rest assured.

True, there's no powerhouses like Syracuse on the schedule next year so they'll probably win at least 10 games.

[bearcatfan]

An 11-1 ND team would not be ranked #23 in the nation, rest assured.

Right, they'll be ranked way higher than that, and whatever ranking they are given will, rest assured, be WAY higher than they deserve.

[NorrisHopper30]

Right, they'll be ranked way higher than that, and whatever ranking they are given will, rest assured, be WAY higher than they deserve.

Brace yourself for his "UC was #35 in my rankings" comeback.

PREPARE FOR IMPACT!

[Not Guilty]

Brace yourself for his "UC was #35 in my rankings" comeback.

PREPARE FOR IMPACT!

Its actually not that absurd. UC was also in the mid-30s in Sagarin's predictor ratings, which is his most accurate rating.

They were also 23 (or so) point underdogs when they went to Oklahoma. As nice of a season as UC had, they weren't that good....

[bearcatfan]

Its actually not that absurd. UC was also in the mid-30s in Sagarin's predictor ratings, which is his most accurate rating.

They were also 23 (or so) point underdogs when they went to Oklahoma. As nice of a season as UC had, they weren't that good....

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't recall anyone debating that, but thanks for the utterly worthless post.

We know. We understand that. But he trolls around saying that in like every thread. That was NH's point, which you mindblowing failed to pick up on.

[Not Guilty]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't recall anyone debating that, but thanks for the utterly worthless post.

We know. We understand that. But he trolls around saying that in like every thread. That was NH's point, which you mindblowing failed to pick up on.

Whoa tough guy. I'm fairly confident NH disagrees with NDs ranking, which is at least part of the reason he was making fun of it.

For someone who has spent a lot of time riding NDs jock on here, you sure seem upset....

[Darren 60]

If UC had played USC, Florida or Texas in their bowl game, they would have lost by a minimum of 25 points to each of those teams.

That would have been interesting to see though. I was pulling for a Fla/UC matchup... Would have been interesting, even if UC would have gotten beat up.

[nd2000]

That would have been interesting to see though. I was pulling for a Fla/UC matchup... Would have been interesting, even if UC would have gotten beat up.

Why would that have been interesting? Maybe UC fans would have liked to see their team play Florida, but the rest of the nation would have been asleep by halftime.

[bearcatfan]

Whoa tough guy. I'm fairly confident NH disagrees with NDs ranking, which is at least part of the reason he was making fun of it.

For someone who has spent a lot of time riding NDs jock on here, you sure seem upset....

Riding his jock? Hardly. We do post in a lot of the same threads together though.

And I'm not as upset as I am calling him out for his trolling.

[BRICKtamland]

VA Tech overrated.

[JoeBrasco]

Actually the most important thing is that it is OVERRATED talent. Of all people, I would not expect you to have blinders on but sure enough, you do.

Notre Dame is not overrated at #23 and a bit underrated IMO considering who they have returning, especially on offense. Here's a look...QB-Jr, RB-Jr, TE-So, Top 2 WR's- So, Jr. All of these guys have started, more or less, since they were freshman.

I predict the Irish to make a leap into the top 15 and stay there by year's end.

Virginia Tech is grossly overrated at #6...

[JoeBrasco]

That would have been interesting to see though. I was pulling for a Fla/UC matchup... Would have been interesting, even if UC would have gotten beat up.

At what point did you think that might actually happen?...:shrug:

[Not Guilty]

At what point did you think that might actually happen?...:shrug:

Alabama would have had to beat Florida and the Sugar Bowl would have had to choose UC over Utah...

[Darren 60]

Alabama would have had to beat Florida and the Sugar Bowl would have had to choose UC over Utah...

That's the scenario I had thought of. Urban Meyer vs his old team or Urban Meyer vs his alma mater... both would have made for some interesting story lines.

[Texasfan]

notre dame is a top 25 preseason team.

why? they finally realized how to make sure they are ranked. play 2 or 3 good teams a year not 5-6. they trade out some of the better teams for easier teams like syracuse. they get a break that uconn will be down. they get a break that michigan will be down.

they should realistically finish with 1-3 losses. i say 3 cause charlie well cant coach. claussen returning looked really good in the bowl game the offense looked like it finally clicked. with the talent they have they should be top 25 though will probably finish 5


now about uc as 35 in your final poll.........