CBS Sports.com Blog Poll - preseason

by GopherNation on Aug 21, 2009 12:00 PM CDT in Gopher Football

I posted my initial ballot earlier this week, listened to your comments and have made changes.

Georgia Tech was a massive omission and they have been added.
Kansas was removed
I did look more closely at Oregon, but they are still on the outside looking in. They were very good last year but not SO good that they will be ranked when they lost so many starters.
Kansas and Oregon are the teams most likely to jump into the poll after some teams lose in week 1.
I am sticking to my guns with Oklahoma over Texas for now. I can see the argument for UT above OK, but this is a preseason poll that has a bit more prediction to it since we haven't seen the 2009 versions of the teams yet. Same for Penn State over Ohio State. I'm not usually a sucker for skill position players and value returning offensive lines, but in these instances I guess I'm a QB/RB rube.

My final submitted ballot.

Rank	Team

1	Florida
2	Southern Cal
3	Oklahoma
4	Texas
5	California
6	Alabama
7	Penn State
8	Ohio State
9	Notre Dame
10	Mississippi
11	Virginia Tech
12	Oklahoma State
13	Georgia
14	LSU
15	Georgia Tech
16	Boise State
17	Iowa
18	Rutgers
19	Nebraska
20	Brigham Young
21	TCU
22	Miami (Florida)
23	Pittsburgh
24	Michigan State
25	East Carolina

Lot's of time till week 1, but please give me your comments...

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Comments

Notre Dame #9

I assume that was a typo, right?

[insert prophetic yet obnoxiously haughty and annoying quote here]

by J Money BS on Aug 21, 2009 1:12 PM CDT reply actions

nope

I think their schedule is favorable and they have talent that has finally had some experience.

I am neither a fan of Notre Dame nor a hater.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Aug 21, 2009 1:35 PM CDT reply actions

I think Notre Dame and Ole Miss are too high...

…..Michigan State, for now, is too low (they should be bunched with ND at least until they play on 9/19), and that Northwestern and West Virginia should be your two teams waiting to crack the top 25.

And, I think the losers of Bama – Va. Tech and Georgia – Okie State should automatically go down to the 20s after week 1.

by JG2112 on Aug 22, 2009 8:35 PM CDT up reply actions

"Favorable schedule"

All that means is they’ll have a good record. It has no bearing whatsoever on whether they’re actually good. (See: Hawaii 2007.)

And the schedule isn’t all that favorable – they’ll get smoked by USC, MSU hasn’t lost in South Bend since Clinton’s first term, and there are plenty of other potential losses (though none that are individually likely).

Maybe they will be a top-10 team. I know better than to assume I know anything about how the season will play out when there hasn’t yet been a single snap. But an easy schedule doesn’t turn a top-20 team into a top-10 team. (Well, it does in the eyes of the AP and coaches’ polls. But that’s a bug, not a feature.)

by SpartanDan on Aug 24, 2009 10:35 AM CDT up reply actions

"and they have talent that has finally had some experience"

I put the two in the same sentence for a reason.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Aug 24, 2009 12:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Fair enough

Personally, I think their returning talent is a bit overblown (I have to wonder how much of a good thing “experience” is when all of that experience adds up to somewhere around zero wins over winning teams not named Navy) and think they’ll be decent but not great. I guess we’ll find out over the next few months.

by SpartanDan on Aug 24, 2009 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions