Offseason College Football Thread

[Guest Vitamin X]

I was just stickin in a good ol' fashioned barb to you SC guys. No harm intended.

 

The strange thing about UCLA's defense, by the way, is that when Drew Olsen and Maurice Jones-Drew were on offense, they had one of the best in the country (I remember their video game bowl game against Northwestern that year plus all those comebacks being one of the more memorable seasons in recent memory), and they had all this talent on defense, but couldn't get it together. Now it's the complete opposite.

 

I think SC has a bit of an issue at QB, as Porter alluded to in the last page. Anyways, these are just preseason rankings, so whatever.

[Guest]

For some reason I have this Jones to see USC go back to South Bend this year, the first meeting there since the miracle of miracles in 05.

 

Out of conference games I'm most looking forward to this year are Tennessee at Cal, Miami at Oklahoma (just cause they're both historic programs and I want to see them duke it out), Va. Tech AT LSU, and SC at Nebraska. And that's only through the first three weeks with a few pretty big omissions. Nebraska at Wake should be good, it'll be nice to see whether or not Wake has any chance of repeating their performance last year.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Miami-OU will more than likely be a blowout by the Sooners, especially if it's at Gaylord. SC-Nebraska? Might be lopsided also, but might provide a good game if SC is down and the Huskers are up.

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah, but you're not going to see an SC fan ceding that point.

 

Oregon is in a bad way these days, though. It looked like things may have been looking up for them as recently as a couple seasons ago, but they're fucked right now. Shame, as they really looked like they could contend with the other Pac-10 powers. As it stands right now, it looks like the contenders there are SC, UCLA, Cal, and OSU. Hmm.

 

A lot of the college football previews I've been looking at say that Oregon was one of the unluckiest teams in the country last year with injuries and turnovers and could easily rebound to finish as high as 2nd in the Pac-Ten this season. In raw yardage differential (yards gained minus yards given up), they actually were tops in the Pac-Ten last year ahead of even USC. I wouldn't count them out just yet.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

FWIW, all 12 of espn.com's experts predicted USC to win the BCS Championship this year. I don't know where some you are getting this "down year" thing from.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

It's not worth shit. Figure A:

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

It's not like I expect them to win it just because espn says so. I was just curious as to where this whole "USC is going to have a down year" thing is coming from because I don't see it.

[Guest]

A lack of offensive gamebreakers in an offensive conference will get that talk going.

 

Not only that, the team has a QB that folds when the going gets tough. Can't wait for Mustain to get here next season...

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Glanville brings the Run and Shoot to Portland State

 

I'm curious to see how PS performs this year, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Glanville brings the Run and Shoot to Portland State

 

I'm curious to see how PS performs this year, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

 

 

It could be interesting. No one around here has much hope.

[Guest Smues]

Man UW is going to be so fucked right off the bat this year. It's not like last year at least where ALL the games against ranked teams were on the road (Oklahoma, USC, Cal, Oregon), but fuck. Three of their first five games are against Boise St., Ohio St., and USC. The program has slowly been getting better under Willingham, but making any progress this year is going to be hard.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Man UW is going to be so fucked right off the bat this year. It's not like last year at least where ALL the games against ranked teams were on the road (Oklahoma, USC, Cal, Oregon), but fuck. Three of their first five games are against Boise St., Ohio St., and USC. The program has slowly been getting better under Willingham, but making any progress this year is going to be hard.

 

 

I heard that they've supplemented their normal Gatorade/water with chocolate milk. Wonder if that will help them.

 

After a long practice under the scorching summer sun, players will typically head for a refreshing drink. Water, or Gatorade perhaps. The University of Washington football team has the usual beverage suspects at their disposal, but they're also trying out something new that you might not expect. Chocolate milk. That's right, chocolate milk. In fact, Washington's players are now required to drink a small carton of fat-free chocolate milk.

The decision to implement the program came after a study last fall from scientists at Indiana University that was published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and was supported in part by the Dairy and Nutrition Council.

 

The small study found no significant difference between using a fluid-replacement drink or chocolate milk for athletes following exercise, with dairy folks touting the nutritional benefits of drinking milk -- chocolate or otherwise.

So, after practices players must drink a fluid-replacement drink such as water or Gatorade and a carton of milk before they can head off the field. To help keep the apprehension at a minimum coach Tyrone Willingham stepped in to drink the soon to be famous combo at the start of practices earlier in the week.

"I check to make sure as much as possible what is going on and what they're going through. There are something's that I don't have to experience because I've already done them, but in this case I hadn't done that. So I wanted to see what it was, the combination, and get a feel for it."

It's unclear whether the Huskies will take the milk with them into the regular season, but it obviously should be done. Hopefully they'll win a big enough game this season, and they'll be able to do the traditional Gatorade shower on Coach Willingham. But of course, they'll have their own spin on it - it will be a chocolate milk shower. Now that's something we'd all want to see.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

A lack of offensive gamebreakers in an offensive conference will get that talk going.

 

Not only that, the team has a QB that folds when the going gets tough. Can't wait for Mustain to get here next season...

 

And to make things worse, if Booty sucks too bad, they won't have Mark Sanchez to fall back on.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

A lack of offensive gamebreakers in an offensive conference will get that talk going.

 

Not only that, the team has a QB that folds when the going gets tough. Can't wait for Mustain to get here next season...

 

And to make things worse, if Booty sucks too bad, they won't have Mark Sanchez to fall back on.

 

 

Isn't Booty considered to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation? Why would you expect him to suck?

[Guest Smues]

Man if I were on the UW team I'd be pissed, I hate chocolate milk. Give me regular skim anyday.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

A lack of offensive gamebreakers in an offensive conference will get that talk going.

 

Not only that, the team has a QB that folds when the going gets tough. Can't wait for Mustain to get here next season...

 

And to make things worse, if Booty sucks too bad, they won't have Mark Sanchez to fall back on.

 

 

Isn't Booty considered to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation? Why would you expect him to suck?

 

No. He's an USC quarterback. There's a degree of hype to him that isn't justified. It's easy to look good when you had Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith catching passes from you. With that, USC lost two games, one against Oregon State and one against UCLA (a game that USC had to win if they wanted in on that national title game). In a poll during the College Football show on ESPN, they asked who fans wanted leading their team, Booty was one of the choices and he received the lowest percentage of the votes, so no I don't imagine many fans consider him one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. Just a caretaker quarterback on a routinely explosive offense. At this point, and even last season, I have been calling for Mark Sanchez to be the starting quarterback, not Booty, so it's a blow to me that Sanchez is injured, since if Booty gets injured or sucks with unproven receivers (besides Turner and maybe McFoy) around him, they will have to either turn to Mike McDonald or a true freshman.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Glanville brings the Run and Shoot to Portland State

 

I'm curious to see how PS performs this year, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

It could be interesting. No one around here has much hope.

 

Really? Seems a bit different for me. I think attendance is going to go way up this year, at the very least.

 

And it's Mouse Davis that's bringing the run and shoot. Glanville is hopefully bringing the defense that has long been missing. We had a great running game last year, although the guy who led that rushing attack elected not to return to the team this year for whatever reason.

 

Fun fact: Portland State could've had Boise State's success- their coach in 1992, a guy by the name of Pokey Allen, beat the crap out of Boise State that season, not long after the Vikings went from Division II to I-AA. Boise St. lost the rest of their games that season, then hired away the entire PSU coaching staff.. and would later on become a successful enough program to get promoted to Division I-A and have the success their program has today. I didn't know about all this until recently.

 

Apparently PSU is trying to make up for that with the new Athletic Director, and revamping the coaching on the football team and all that. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how it works out- Glanville is dominating the sports page of local papers here like Oden, so it's at least giving us some publicity.

[Guest]

A lack of offensive gamebreakers in an offensive conference will get that talk going.

 

Not only that, the team has a QB that folds when the going gets tough. Can't wait for Mustain to get here next season...

 

And to make things worse, if Booty sucks too bad, they won't have Mark Sanchez to fall back on.

 

 

Isn't Booty considered to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation? Why would you expect him to suck?

 

No. He's an USC quarterback. There's a degree of hype to him that isn't justified. It's easy to look good when you had Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith catching passes from you. With that, USC lost two games, one against Oregon State and one against UCLA (a game that USC had to win if they wanted in on that national title game). In a poll during the College Football show on ESPN, they asked who fans wanted leading their team, Booty was one of the choices and he received the lowest percentage of the votes, so no I don't imagine many fans consider him one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. Just a caretaker quarterback on a routinely explosive offense. At this point, and even last season, I have been calling for Mark Sanchez to be the starting quarterback, not Booty, so it's a blow to me that Sanchez is injured, since if Booty gets injured or sucks with unproven receivers (besides Turner and maybe McFoy) around him, they will have to either turn to Mike McDonald or a true freshman.

Exactly. He has a problem with handling pressure. The physical attributes are there, but mentally it isn't.

 

He sees the slightest hint of a passrush and goes to ground. He's afraid to take a hit to make the play. Not very good with audibles or learning how to use them correctly. Simply put, he's average. Good enough for the talent around him, maybe. He won't be a playmaker.

 

Mark Sanchez OTOH, is as playmaking of a QB as can be found. Too bad he can't play. The guy is ridiculously good. He was in Division II, same as me when I played in High School and he killed it. Mission Viejo only lost one or two games while he was QB. I was at a passing league event where Viejo, us, and a couple others were playing and he was dominant. I don't even remember the other teams anymore, but I remember him. Didn't make a single bad throw when there were some GOOD (meaning playing in college right now) cover corners out there. He has all the tools, I have no idea why Carroll didn't start him when he first got here. I'm not just saying this because he's playing at SC. I'm saying it because every single person in our division was scared of playing against him.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

I'm too lazy to look back, so this might have been said before, but I kinda doubt it since I'm guessing there isn't a big Auburn fan base here. Anyway, I'm going to love seeing this town tear itself apart once AU loses all of its away games (Florida, LSU, Georgia, and Arkansas). Of course, the mighty Tigers can still be proud that they'll beat Tennessee Tech.

 

I really hate living in Auburn sometimes.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I don't like Booty either, but it isn't like Mark Sanchez is out for the season or anything. He's out 4 weeks.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

That's good news I guess. Gives Carroll enough time to push Booty out if needed to be. ESPN painted a grim picture in regards to Sanchez's injury so that's why I might have overreacted about it.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

It's not worth shit. Figure A:

 

Oh come on. New Orleans was a much sexier pick. Smarter? No, but way sexier.

[Bored 0]

Here's a new twist on the S.I. Cover Jinx. Emmanuel Moody appears on the cover this week, along Chauncy Washington and C.J. Gable, and promptly announces that he is leaving USC.

[MFer 0]

Cowherd bascially buried West Virginia(and Iowa) on his show today, saying he wouldn't vote for them to be in the BCS title game even if they went undefeated, due to their weak strength of schedule(during his rant, he pretty much called out A.D.'s who create weak non-conference schedules for their teams). He especially wouldn't put them in over a 1-loss USC or most SEC schools. I believe he also said he would've done the same to Wisconsin if they had ran the table last year. Fair or foul to that scenario?

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I'd say fair if it's out of conference scheduling but foul if it's in conference scheduling because teams can't help it if they play in a poor conference and still do extremely well.

[Maztinho 0]

I'd say fair if it's out of conference scheduling but foul if it's in conference scheduling because teams can't help it if they play in a poor conference and still do extremely well.

 

Yeah if they are running it up on D-II schools for two games then they shouldn't get the accolades, but if the conference is down in general, it's not the teams particular fault they have to play against the conference.

[Bored 0]

Preseason AP Top 25

 

1. USC (62)

2. LSU (2)

3. West Virginia (1)

4. Texas

5. Michigan

6. Florida

7. Wisconsin

8. Oklahoma

9. Virginia Tech

10. Louisville

11. Ohio State

12. California

13. Georgia

14. UCLA

15. Tennessee

16. Rutgers

17. Penn State

18. Auburn

19. Florida State

20. Nebraska

21. Arkansas

22. TCU

23. Hawaii

24. Boise State

25. Texas A&M

 

Others Receiving Votes:

Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94, Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South Carolina 69, Miami (FL) 68, Alabama 66, Oregon State 42, Wake Forest 40, South Florida 28, Arizona State 17, Brigham Young 14, Southern Miss 12, Notre Dame 11, Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 3, Texas Tech 2, Purdue 1, Houston 1, North Carolina State 1, Kentucky 1

[Mecca 0]

Here's a new twist on the S.I. Cover Jinx. Emmanuel Moody appears on the cover this week, along Chauncy Washington and C.J. Gable, and promptly announces that he is leaving USC.

 

Considering Moody ended up 4th on the depth chart with the other backs there he was never going to get to play.

 

[Broward83 0]

Preseason AP Top 25

 

1. USC (62)

2. LSU (2)

3. West Virginia (1)

4. Texas

5. Michigan

6. Florida

7. Wisconsin

8. Oklahoma

9. Virginia Tech

10. Louisville

11. Ohio State

12. California

13. Georgia

14. UCLA

15. Tennessee

16. Rutgers

17. Penn State

18. Auburn

19. Florida State

20. Nebraska

21. Arkansas

22. TCU

23. Hawaii

24. Boise State

25. Texas A&M

 

Others Receiving Votes:

Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94, Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South Carolina 69, Miami (FL) 68, Alabama 66, Oregon State 42, Wake Forest 40, South Florida 28, Arizona State 17, Brigham Young 14, Southern Miss 12, Notre Dame 11, Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 3, Texas Tech 2, Purdue 1, Houston 1, North Carolina State 1, Kentucky 1

 

 

Texas shouldn't be 4th.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

On the print out I have, Duke has 1 vote. Spurrier at it again?