2008 sj.com college football poll -- (1/9) Final Poll, Page 118

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

After watching them lay a bigger turd than Eastern Michigan's opponent on Thursday, all three behind Clemson looked better -- and then some.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

And if you're no clemson slurper, then who ya slurpin?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Stop slurping Paul Mokeski and think for a minute!

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

I'm way too busy slurping the Brewers to have time for any college football teams at present.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

This why polls are so wonderful/a pain in the ass. The "predicament" Bubs has about Clemson is the top of the iceberg. (I've got several of my own right now as well.) Based on the first weekend of games, there's no way that Clemson deserves to be in the top 25, let alone potenially argue. .especially if you think Alabama's 19th. IYou've got Illinois ranked 20th to a team you think is 5th and that game was a lot more competitive.

But it's all in how you vote/analyze what Top 25 means. I said on Saturday that people are probably going to gripe about some of my picks. I'm not going to say I'm sorry that I deduct early on for playing 1-AA teams.

I give much more credit to the matchups like Oregon-Washinton, Tenn-UCLA, Kentucky-Louiville than those who beat up on the little sisters of the poor. And if you play the little sisters, you need to score more than 43 points (Ohio State) or not give up 21 (Georgia). Now these things will even out over the course of the season, but somebody like East Carolina deserves credit for beating Virginia Tech while Arizona State shouldn't be rewarded for only beating Northern Arizona 30-13.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

To be fair, I wouldn't give either team too much credit. I mean, they are Pac-10 rivals and that conference does a true round robin. They were going to play this season regardless.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

That is true, but it's one thing to play a conference opponent or a rivalry game like Kentucky-Louisville or Colorado-Colorado State right out of the chute and another to play a 1-AA first as a warm-up.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Had the Kentucky-Louisville game been in Lexington, it wouldn't have been played until week 3 or 4.

And both teams' schedules would have been pathetic leading up to the game.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Bubbler, what part of Central Florida's 17-0 mauling of South Carolina State impressed you the most?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

I can't say I'm a huge fan of opening immediately with a conference game. There may have been someone else that did it, but the Pac-10 is the only one I can think of (and even then it wasn't every school). Not that it would have helped my wife's Huskies, who proved that an accomplished NFL defensive coordinator doesn't mean shit if the players don't understand that whole 'wrapping up' concept.

As for Clemson: It's been a few years since I picked up a Street & Smith's or some other preview, but every year it seems like there's some team in the top 5 or top 10 who seems really out of place. Like 11 years ago, when Texas Tech was somehow a preseason top-10 team because it had Byron Hanspard (unless that team had a lot of unrealized potential, I'll trust someone that remembers better).

So I just figured that Clemson fell into that category. I had them pretty high, but figured I wouldn't have them there for long...

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

anyone see how mount union did?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

All of it.

I thought Central Florida had potential coming into the season, so I put them at No. 25. I'll keep them there. The win over SC St. is unimpressive, but its no reason to drop them.