It is rather silly to list a preseason top 25 for college football. There are simply too many variables from year to year. From the holes created by the loss of seniors and early entries to the impact of incoming freshman, it's just too hard to predict this early.
And yet, the preseason poll in football is far more important than in basketball. When a team is slotted in the football poll, they move up as teams in front lose, and then move down who knows how many spots when they lose. The slotted position is very important, despite its relative inexact science.
That is why I would support a waiting period for the first AP and Coaches polls. If the powers that be are going to continue to employ the absolutely assinine BCS system, then they ought to at least be patient when positioning each team for its late season run.
But in the spirit of hypocrisy, and in full recognition that this list will resemble the final poll much the same way Sarah Jessica Parker resembles a sexy woman, here is your way-too-early Top 15:
Gimmicky, but effective offense. Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree should combine for about 3000 yards this year and 35 touchdowns. Anything less and Mike Leach will throw the Playstation controller at the computer screen. Beating Eastern Washington by any less than 60 points will be a disappointed.
Uncoincidentally, Mike Leach is a prick that runs up the score on lesser opponents and still can't beat Texas and Oklahoma for the league title.... ever.
14. Arizona St.
Dennis Erickson's team surprised many last year, including yours truly. But I still believe that their success is more of a product of the weak Pac-10 as opposed to the greatness of Rudy Carpenter. A Sept. 20 buttwhoopin' in Devil Staduim looms courtesy of the Georgia Bulldogs. Their only other loss should be USC. But they'll lose those two games by a combined 60+ points
13. Florida St.
They have the talent. They have the schedule. But they're coach is older than John McCain, and that ain't a good thing. Look for Drew Weatherford to put up enough points to challenge Clemson for the ACC title - which is sort of like winning a homegame of poker.
Myron Rolle on defense is a S-T-U-D. Just sayin'.
12. West Virgina
They're final record will be somewhere around 12-1 or 11-2 because of the weak-ass Big East, so why aren't they higher? The answer is simple. They'll be losing to Auburn at home on October 23, so I cannot in good conscience put them ahead of them - even though their record and final ranking will probably be better.
It's not as if they lost Pat White or anything and Noel Devine is the real deal. But in the trenches, they are sorely deficient and that will show against the much bigger Tigers. In the Big Least, they'll dominate.
11. Auburn
They are only here because they had the balls to schedule a roadgame in Morgantown. They have a serious questionmark at quarterback, but that should be figured out by the third week in October. They also play in the comparatively weak SEC West, should beat Alabama for the 94th year in a row and if they can knock off LSU in September, they'll get to lose to either Georgia or Florida in the SEC title game. Good fun.
10. Texas
You have to really wonder what this team is capable of, especially considering how many times Jamaal Charles (who is now gone) had to save this team last year. Colt McCoy looked brilliant at times two years ago as a redshirt freshman. If he can stay healthy, he should have a big year statistically with a huge offensive line in front of him. The defense is also stout.
The problem? Vince Young ain't there and Oklahoma is on the schedule. Mack Brown knows how that equation usually works out.
9. LSU
Tough call here. The defense should be outstanding and they have a big offensive line with a deep pool of running backs. If Ryan Perriloux hadn't been a walking disaster in the offseason, this team would be competing to repeat as National Champs. As it stands, they don't have a QB and I'm not sure they'll be able to top Auburn for the West, much less beat either Florida or Georgia for the SEC title.
That matchup against Auburn, by the way, should be a disaster and may set back offense in the SEC about four decades. I'm calling LSU in a 9-3 walkover, but it really could go either way. If it does, flip them with Tigers.
8. Clemson
This is Tommy Bowden's best team since he's been there. C.J. Spiller and James Davis may be the best tandem of running backs east of Pasadena. At quarterback, this team is set with the seasoned Cullen Harper and stud-backup Willy Korn. With the ACC is disarray, this team should walk away with the league title, if Tommy can top Daddy's Seminoles.
Bottom Line: The defense isn't great, but Freshman DE Da'Quan Bowers will be one of the all-time greats. They could be a darkhorse national title contender, giving in-state rival South Carolina Cocks a chance to jizz all over their season on Nov. 29.
7. Wisconsin
If they can get past an early-season test at Fresno State, this team has a chance to be something special coming out of Madison. We all know they'll be able to run the ball as they do every year. But the defense should be spectacular. The D-Line is the best in the Big Ten, with Matt Shaughnessy (seems like he's been there forever) anchoring the line. Travis Beckum is the best TE in the country. The only unknown is the quarterback position, where K-State transfer Allan Evridge would seem to have the inside track.
Bret Bielema is one of the premier young coaches in the country. He has shown an ability to win the big games, but can he avoid losing the little ones? If he can, only a mid-season homegame versus the Buckeyes of Ohio State stands in the way of a league title and BCS-bowl berth.
6. Missouri
Anyone that was anybody during last year's run is back. And yes, that includes my Heisman frontrunner Chase Daniel. The schedule will be tough though. An early season matchup with Illinois in St. Louis will tell a lot about whether this team was a one-year wonder. Also on the schedule looms a road game in Austin. Here's saying they win both and walk into the Big 12 Title game undefeated against the Sooners...
... and there's the problem. They can't beat the Sooners.
5. Oklahoma
I'm baffled how this team can get away, year after year, with failing to show up in bowl games while Ohio State gets ripped to shreads. And yet, they still dominate the two teams in the Big 12 worth dominating - Texas and Missouri. So I have to put them here, even you know they'll lose some game they shouldn't during the regular season, and subsequently get thumped in a BCS bowl. It's like Christmas. It happens every year.
Sam Bradford will be a finalist for the Heisman. Mark that down as well.
4. Ohio State
Yes, the rest of the country is aware that James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins and Alex Boone all came back for one more BCS National Championship ass-kickin'. We get it. I also heard the Craig Krenzel was a molecular genetics major and that Brett Favre was coming out of retirement.
The defensive line sucks though. Shh... don't tell the Bucknuts in Columbus. But they couldn't generate pressure on a middle school offensive line from BFE. That's why you see Little Animal racking up 17 tackles in the championship - all of which were about 7-10 yards downfield after the defensive line whiffed on the tackles. Add insult to injury, starting DT Doug Worthington apparently likes to booze and get behind the wheel of his Cadillac SUV.
The other problem besides the defensive line? The quarterback. Todd Boeckman makes Bernie Kosar look like Vince Young. And his decisionmaking over the last three games was suspect at best. By the time he got to New Orleans, he was making Stanley Jackson look like a certain aforementioned molecular genetics major.
If they can get past Wisconsin, they'll probably walk away with the Big Ten title - as if that's worth anything. But forget a third trip to ass-whoopin' land. An early-season loss to USC will take care of that - and it won't be pretty.
3. Georgia
Everybody is lovin' the Dawgs and slobbering all over Knowshon Moreno's knob. It will get worse after they trample ASU in the desert on Sept. 20. But two things will keep this team from getting anywhere other than another regular BCS game:
1. They are making the Bengals look like Habitat for Humanity. So many arrests. So little time. Mark Richt even had to suspend a couple of players - which must have taken a brutal rape allegation, swept under the rug of course. There's no truth to the rumor that they have tried to bring back Odell Thurman.
2. With the extreme exception of last year where the entire team embarrassed themselves by running onto the field after the first touchdown of the game, they always lose to Florida in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Always. This year will be no different. Look for Matt Stafford to choke like a Phillipino Whore during a gangbang that game.
On the bright side... with USC like headed to the BCS Title game, the Rose Bowl may be able to select Georgia to be the third consecutive SEC title to drop the hammer on the Buckeyes. Good times.
2. Florida
Easy call here. With Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, you know the offense will light up the scoreboard like a pinball machine.
Everyone is questioning the defense. Sure, they struggled at times last year but because they were young, not because they weren't talent. Take away the young, add a year of experience, along with Matt Stafford's rising blood pressure, and you've got yourself another SEC team in the title game. Player to watch on defense: Hard-hitting headhunter Soph. Safety Major Wright. Big-time player with future first-round pick written all over him.
1. USC
First, let me say this: Pete Carroll is the mother-fucking Anti-Christ. There, I said it. But success attracts hate and no one can doubt the domination of this Pac-10 program since 2002. Year after year in the top 2 or 3. Year after year the top recruiting class in the country. Yes. They're good. And there's no reason to think that 2008 will be any different.
This year, the Trojans have, without a doubt, the best defense in the country. The defensive line is strong with Fili Moala filling the gaps up the middle and fast rush ends outside. The secondary is solid, returning 3 0f 4 starters, and including the top safety tandem in the country. But the heart and soul of the defense lies with the linebacker corps. Rey Maualuga should have left early. He is the hardest hitting lineback in the country, with great technique and a nasty disposition. There are no question marks on this defense.
Offensively, the Trojans boast a deep set of running backs. Joe McKnight is the headliner. But Stafon Johnson is the best overall back. The battle for the starting position will only make them better. At the quarterback position, Mark Sanchez is a former #1 quarterback recruit with 4 starts already in his pocket. His receivers are heralded, but have been disppointing. The passing game will need to take some pressure off the backs. But the defense will give the air attack time to develop.
The headline of the schedule is Ohio State, and the Trojans have lost only one big game since 2002. (See Texas 2005). Usually, this team shows up and blows out the tough opponents. There's no reason tho think the outcome will be any different at home against an Ohio State team that has struggled against teams with quick defensive lines. (See Florida and LSU). The only landmind on the schedule is USC themselves. They are simply too good and the Pac-10 too mediocre to slip against another patsy like Stanford again. Look for them in Miami in the BCS Title game.
Yes, it's a swimming post. Deal with it.
