Guest phoenixrising Report post Posted September 16, 2002 Krentzel is lucky to have a very good offensive line, a fine corps of running backs and several good wide recievers, plus a dominating defense. He isn't being called on to win the game for Ohio State which takes a lot of pressure off him. It's still the beginning of the season, I wouldn't be surprised if he got better as the season goes on and he becomes more comfortable with his abilities and the abilities of those around him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Kotzenjunge Report post Posted September 16, 2002 Ehh, what I can't stand is that ESPN creams itself over the Big XII. Yes, it is an outstanding conference, with Texas(who I am refusing to accept as a National Title contender) and Oklahoma. They give the Big Ten a lot of press too, yet another superb conference, with Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State(who I actually had pegged to defeat Nebraska, but nowhere nearly as badly as they did). The ACC is only Florida State to them, as well as North Carolina State when they play Florida State! The SEC isn't nearly as tough of a conference as it used to be, back in the days of Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee all being ranked, but it's still one of the toughest conferences in the country. The Big East is the Miami/Virgina Tech show as far as I'm concerned, and the Pac-10 is now emerging as the toughest conference. The point of all of this was to show that teams who are REALLY the best(Miami, Tennessee, and I'm putting Oregon in there too) are getting jack squat in talk time. I say the Fiesta Bowl is going to be Tennessee-Miami, but only if Tennessee beats Miami. If Miami beats Tennessee, with the meager credit Tennessee gets, they'll never recover in time unless the other teams melt down totally. It happened last year, why not now? I wouldn't depend on it though. Tennessee-Miami really is the game of the year as far as I can surmise. Ohio State will be taken out by Michigan or some other team out of nowhere, and Florida State will lose to Miami. Oklahoma and Texas will eliminate each other by Oklahoma winning, then blowing some game late in the season(a la the Oklahoma State game last year) or losing the Big XII title game to Nebraska or perhaps Kansas State, depending on how the Nebraska-Kansas State game goes. Out west, I see it being between Oregon and Washington, with the conference riding on their November 16th game. Notre Dame WILL get a BCS bowl this year. You heard it here first. Rose Bowl: Oregon v. Ohio State/Michigan/maybe even Penn State Orange Bowl: Florida State v. Notre Dame Sugar Bowl(if Tennessee loses to Miami): Tennessee/Virginia Tech Sugar Bowl(if Tennessee beats Miami): Miami-Ohio State/Michigan/maybe Texas Fiesta Bowl: Almost impossible to determine, but Tennessee WILL be in there. These are my own opinions, as wrong as they may be, they're just based on what I think. I know I'm probably wrong, but whatever. Look for Tennessee to dismantle Florida this week and give them a 2-2 record for my enjoyment. If Miami were playing at Boston College I'd give an outside chance for an upset, but not at Miami's house. Virginia Tech/Texas A&M will be a hard-fought game, but I see VT winning. Notre Dame beats Michigan State and gets into the Top 10 with Florida's loss to Tennessee. Fo sheez, Kotzenjunge Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest phoenixrising Report post Posted September 16, 2002 Oklahoma will live and die by their running game. It's nice to post over 200 yards on the ground against Tulsa and UTEP, but you better do that to some top tier teams as well or you're going down. Texas, of course, has talent. I'm just not sold on Mack Brown yet. This is his year...Oklahoma looks very vulnerable with an iffy running game and Hybl behind center. I haven't been really sold on Oregon this year, but they are working in a new QB and they have Onterrio Smith to run the ball, so if it did come down to Oregon/Washington I think Oregon will win. I can't wait till the Pac-10 teams start playing each other. You have Oregon, Washington, Washington State (I still think they will win the Pac-10 - all of their big games are in Pullman), a resurgent USC, a bounceback Oregon State, an underrated UCLA, a VERY underrated Cal, and Stanford. Arizona isn't too shabby, maybe the only walkover now is ASU. Problem is for the Pac-10, they will beat each other up, which is probably why a Pac-10 team won't play for the national title, unless either Oregon or USC remains undefeated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Strike Force! Report post Posted September 16, 2002 Ehh, what I can't stand is that ESPN creams itself over the Big XII. Yes, it is an outstanding conference, with Texas(who I am refusing to accept as a National Title contender) and Oklahoma. They give the Big Ten a lot of press too, yet another superb conference, with Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State(who I actually had pegged to defeat Nebraska, but nowhere nearly as badly as they did). No way. If a Big XII team even STRUGGLES to win, ESPN is all over them, talking about how the conference is "possibly overrated." Yet, if a Big Ten team beats a mid-range #20-#25 team at home, they talk up that craphole of a conference. Same goes for Notre Shame and the Miami Co-Canes. If Miami beat freaking Rutgers by 60 points, stupid ESPN talks about how awesome they are. But if we beat Tulsa or UTEP by that same margin, ESPN says we are unproven. It's the East Coast ESPN double standard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Strike Force! Report post Posted September 16, 2002 Texas, of course, has talent. I'm just not sold on Mack Brown yet. This is his year...Oklahoma looks very vulnerable with an iffy running game and Hybl behind center. Hybl looks like a different QB this year. He's not making the bad throws and bad decisions he made last season. Of course, that's against UTEP. However, he struggled even against bad teams (North Texas, Kansas) last year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
