Will Herron prove Steele wrong?If you're like me, the Phil Steele Preview magazine is one of the highlights of the summer. It's released when the NBA and NHL finals are ending and is so full of information, it's gets you through the boredom of baseball season.
It takes you 2 months just to digest all the stats and fine print before the season and then becomes your holy book throughout the fall.
After thumbing through this year's version, there are a few things that stood out for not only the Buckeyes, but the Big Ten landscape as a whole for the 2009 season.
He revealed the Buckeyes as his preseason #10 team on his site yesterday and predicts OSU will finish behind Penn State in the B10 race. With the unanswered questions facing the Bucks this season and the star power of PSU, it's tough to argue. But with USC at home and their first 9 games being played in the state of Ohio or Indiana, the Bucks will be hovering around the top 10 all year.
Since LiC is not draft eligible, he doesn't make the top 60 list for quarterbacks, but Juice checks in at 17, Adam Weber at 20 and Daryl Clark at 23. He does have TP earning 2nd team all conference honors, so you have to figure he would rank in the upper teens nationally. That could be a good sign for Bucks fans, as Phil had Colt McCoy 15th and Mark Sanchez 17th in last year's rankings, but then again Todd Boeckman was 7th, one spot ahead of Heisman winner Sam Bradford. The B10 only have the 3 QB's ranked after having 8 last year, even though the top 6 in passing efficiency return.
The most curious choice in his predictions was Brandon Saine as the 3rd team All Conference running back, with Boom Herron being excluded from any list. I know Saine had a great spring, but Boom is going to get 1,000 yards this season, if he gets close to 200 carries. With TP taking some carries and the potential threat of a freshman rising up, Saine may have to get most of his production catching passes out of the backfield.
Of course neither one of the above will happen, if the offensive line decides to stink it up for a 3rd straight year. He has them as the 16th best unit in the nation, with only Iowa (6) ranking better. Even though he hasn't played a game there, Cordle is listed as the 16th best tackle and Boren is the 10 best guard. It makes me nervous as hell that their best lineman is a Michigan transfer, no one has seized the left tackle spot and only Mike Brewster returns to his position. The potential good news comes in the arrival of Marcus Hall, who could make an immediate impact as the 5th best incoming tackle.
It comes at no surprise the highest ranked unit is the defensive line, which comes in 5th nationally. He has all 4 defensive ends ranked in his top 36; Heyward at 10, Gibson at 29, Rose at 34 and Wilson at 36, while Larimore comes in as the 22nd best tackle and Worthington is 28th. Remember, Denlinger and Garrett Goebel were the ones getting a ton of praise coming out of the spring.
Joining the line as tops in the conference is the secondary and special teams, with the linebackers coming in behind Penn State, Iowa and Michigan State.
I know it's one man's opinion (with a shit ton of research to back it up), but what do you think of his Buckeye rankings? Where would you put TP nationally? Do you think Boom will get a 1,000? How much stock to you put into preseason rankings?
The season is 11 weeks from Saturday and I know my summer kick offs tonight with back-to-back Phish shows, so opening day will be here soon. If you want to seem smart when the SEC or Michigan trolls stop by, go out and pick up Steele's Holy Book, you still have time to digest the first 200 pages.
Comments
Preseason rankings don't mean squat. It makes about as much sense as preseason rankings in August. All of these publications want you to do is buy their magazines and compare where OSU should finish and then bitch to your buddies as to why Magazine "A" didn't rank OSU high as Magazine "B".
The unofficial start of College Football, in my opinion, begins on July 14th when EA Sports will ship out NCAA Football '10.
He lost me at "Boeckman was #7 last year". No one in their right mind thought Todd Boeckman was a top 10 QB going into last year. No one.
Then to say that Saine is 3rd team all-conference is just ludicrous.
These rankings have absolutely no credibility.
I remember feeling that watching the end of the 2007 season. Everyone praising Boeckman and talking about his passing numbers. I just remember wondering if they had been watching the same guy I had. He threw so many interceptions and all of the long amazing passes we had the receivers had to go up and make a circus catch to have any chance of them - I don't remember him every hitting someone in stride and on the numbers.
Mediocre decision making and mediocre accuracy do not make a top ten quarterback. He wasn't actively bad when he had a pocket to work with - and I think there were places where we should have subbed him in to force the defense to watch pass a bit more (see the Penn State game) but I never thought he'd make top 10.
Boeckman has one of the top seasons for a QB in the history of Ohio State football in 2007, while there was concern over INTs and poor performances in his last two games, to say that no one thought he would be good in 2008 is extremely untrue.
The Saine thing is probably based on Steele going off of recruiting rankings and being unfamiliar with the situation due to a lack of carries from either back.
Either way, Steele has by far the best preseason magazine and acting like it has no credibility based on two things is dumb. Take his rankings with a grain of salt? yes, you should do that with any predictions anyone makes, but to completely disregard them is a little much.
I think there is some credibility to the rankings, but there are always going to be some misses. I know the preseason rankings don't mean too much once the games start, but they do provide a good conversation post during these down times.
Back-to-back phish concerts? Awesome.
Phil Steele? Pretty Good.
Buckeye chances with this schedule? Excellent.
TP? LiC.
Throw out the publications. It all comes down to off season conditioning - by that I mean how hard are the Bucks are working in the weight room, 7 vs. 7 drills, film room, classroom "Ray Small" please get it together, staying out of trouble - remember what Coach T says nothing good happens after midnight. Have to stay away from th injury bug. I don't know why but I am focusing on the line play - we will see how they come off the ball against Navy and USC. You have to own the POT - point of attack and thats up front. To all you sec crack fans wearing camos take a hike!
"The unofficial start of College Football, in my opinion, begins on July 14th when EA Sports will ship out NCAA Football ‘10."
I CONCUR!
I really really believe that in Herron and Saine Ohio State has the best 1-2 punch of running backs out there. I thought Herron looked great last year and just got better as the season went on. Saine, I have said all along will be awesome. Last year was disappointing but his freshman season he showed how dangerous he can be. He never was quite the same after he had the knee scoped, but he's looked good in spring and I think he's back. This guy could be dangerous the way he can catch the ball out of the backfield.
IMO, I prefer to be underrated going into the season. The fact that our individual players don't get any love from Mr. Steele is fine with me so long as our TEAM plays well as a unit.
I wonder how the NYGiants' graded out in 2007-08...
On a side note, I wet myself watching the Spring Game on BTN last night.
Pin me down and I do think Boom will eke out 1000 yards. As far as the individual rankings, nothing really is glaringly wrong. I take that back...Nate Oliver being listed in the Safeties section was good for a chuckle - especially when you consider he's listed ahead of Valai for Wisconsin who has, you know, actually done something.
I really enjoy Steele's magazine. It's the only publication I buy and rely on heavily each college football season. Sure, there are oddities here and there which can be debated (ie: Oliver above) but overall, it's top notch. He is consistently ranked as the best in quality of information and accuracy by Stassen.
http://preseason.stassen.com/
Saine is a modern day Ken-Yon Rambo. Some of the older fans who followed the limited recruiting information back in the day can recall the can't miss speedster coming out of the Long Beach California area.
Some recruits just do not live up to the hype.
Robb, that is not fair to Saine. He has not been getting in trouble in the classroom or with the law (i.e. Rambo getting busted with pot). The kid showed talent before his knee and hamstring injuries and seems to be working really hard to get back to top form for this season.
I think you will be surprised when he becomes a difference maker.
If you wanted to compare someone to Rambo it would more likely be Small, all the talent in the world but can't get his head straight. (What was Small's old jersey number)
Still I hope Small gets it together this year so that he has a chance at getting picked up by somebody next year.
The linebackers will be rated much higher as the season progresses. THey have not had much experience but the USC game will give that to them right away. I hope the linebacker corp looks like this: Rolle at Sam, Homan at Mike, and Sabino at Will.
Phil has Cam Heyward has #10 overall DE, but not All-Big10 (8 DE's). Has to be a mis-print?
Having a hard time believing this guy watches OSU football. But I do agree that Saine has a big future ahead of him. How can anyone write a guy off after two years. Especially with OSU's history of late bloomers.
I do think Boom gets 1000, however. Saine will make his impact in different ways and may end up making a great pro one day with his versatility.
Unfortunately not if all you own is a Wii. But after the crap sandwhich that was NCAA '09 Football "Wii Play" maybe that's not an entirely bad thing.
I stand corrected. I forgot about the pot arrest.
Corey,
Are you going to the Deer Creek show on Friday night? I'll be there as well and it would be awesome to have a mini-Eleven Warriors gathering.
This is a tough pill to swallow, I thought he'd consider them a little higher. But, then I remembered, what is he going off of? These kids really have never played as their own team yet, Ohio State's coaches have not assembled a winning combination of personnel and game preparation to belong on the same field as most of the top-10 teams in the last 2.5 years, and the two TD passes during the spring game were the most explosive the Buckeyes have looked in a while - the SPRING GAME, i.e. practice. Maybe a 10-ranking is actually pretty high.
I don't agree with the experts on Penn State. They are rebuilding a lot more than people realize - something Penn State has struggled with in the last decade. Our defense handled their Spread HD in 2008, and now they have to replace 3 receivers and most of their offensive line. They'll lose at least two games this year, one will be to us. The other might be to Michigan. Remember, Pryor actually had a very good game against their defense (it was Beanie's 59 yards behind poor O-line play that lost us that game!), and Michigan, with all their woes, scared the sh*t out of them in the first half of last year's game in Happy Valley...this year, it's in Ann Arbor, and JoePa cannot win there.
The Duane Long Report just broke some news on a new offensive line coach- says its a great move. Any comments?
truth? link?
haha...good looks..just saw the new post
I really don't believe a word Phil Steele says. Remember when he rated SCum's OLBs and DEs as tops in the nation? How did they do against Troy Smith? Oh yeah, that's right!
Saine will shock some people this year. He looks like he did as a fr. running with alot more power and finishing runs in the spring game. We should have a great one-two punch at RB. Is it sept. yet?
The ironic thing is that Steele is based out of Cleveland, so you'd think he'd be a little more in tune with things in Columbus, especially the whole Saine/Boom thing.
I think the three starters at LB right now are Moeller, Homan and Spitler, which just shows how much depth we have there. As far as which will be the Mike, Sam or Will, I think they all can play interchangeably, but I think Spitler at 6'3" will start in the Middle (Homan & Moeller are both 6'). I do like Sabino, though and think he's proven he can play. I think we are fully reloaded on the DEF side. It always seems like it's going to hurt when we lose are star LB, but there's always something just as special coming up (i.e. Katzenmoyer, Hawk, JL).
I feel much better about this years O-line, and we'll need them considering how much TP will throw. I'm thrilled about Justin Boren because he takes anyone getting to his QB personally. It's about fricking time Bryant Browning is removed from Tackle. He just doesn't have the mobility to go up against athletic DE's. He's now in the interior at Guard. I like Brewster taking over at C and think he will play there at the next level. That puts Cordle in Browning's ex-position at T leaving the other Tackle position open for either Andy Miller or Mike Adams.
I could care less about the rankings. It really just reveals biases. USC breaking in a brand new QB with no experience and a new DEF, but they're well ahead of us on every rankings. Tons of depth at RB, but only one guy can carry the ball at a time. I think our TP factor is being severely underestimated. Fine by me. Mark my words, we will be better than last year and back to our dominance a la 2007.
Yes, it is September.
Word.
See what I mean about biases. Top 5 ranking just because.
FROM:
6/18 Roundtable - The Most Overrated Teams
By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Jun 18, 2009
http://cfn.scout.com/2/873231....
Matthew Zemek, CFN
Q: The most overrated team will be ... ?
A: USC.
"The Trojans will go 11-2, but that probably won't get them the top 5 ranking they've been assigned in most quarters. It will also fail to get the Men of Troy another Pac-10 title, which Oregon will snag.
Don't get all riled up, Angelinos. This is the law of averages entering the arena. Sometime, the uninterrupted string of trophies is going to come to an end. This looks like the year, and it shouldn't be hard to understand why.
1) No Mark Sanchez (or quarterback continuity) means no two-year run under center. Matt Leinart was around for three years, John David Booty two. Had Sanchez returned, USC would have been ready to rock once more. Now, that's in question.
2) Linebackers. Who's gonna replace the likes of Maualuga, Cushing, and Co.?
3) Kickers. Gone. They weren't unreal, but they were solid. What if the new booters go bust in biggies?
4) The schedule: At Oregon. At Cal. At Arizona State. Not what you want in a season when the Trojans will be replacing so many bodies, and a new quarterback will have to handle raucous road environments for the first time as a USC starter.
11-2 would be a solid season for this club. It really would. It simply seems that the preseason rankings suggest a 12-1 finish instead."
Inre: "4) The schedule:" If those are going to be tough road games, then fear the Shoe.
With Bollman again and again and again (for 8 years) damaging the O-line potential and the Offense (as well as being a negative for any potential recruit with common sense) will OSU ever again beat a top 5 team?
With Bollman again and again and again (for 8 years) damaging the O-line potential and the Offense (as well as being a negative for any potential recruit with common sense) will OSU ever again beat a top 5 team?
When will the Columbus media begin to see the obvious: There is a glaring reason that No Program In The Nation has shown any interest in recruiting Bollman away from OSU (year after year after year).
Speaking of history and the teams we've lost to, since 2005 we've lost 8 games...every one of which were to teams that played in a BCS bowl game in the respective year of the loss. Do some real research and find me ONE other program in the country that can say the same thing. Go on, I'll wait.......................................................................
Ohio State: Where losing to BCS-bound teams is something to be proud of.
What you're essentially saying here is that we don't really get "upset" and that we lose to good teams exclusively. Ignoring the fact that Illinois didn't belong within 500 miles of the Rose Bowl, that still leaves sub-par or embarrassing performances against teams who lost to:
Oregon State
Iowa
Auburn
Kentucky
Arkansas
and that 2007 Illini outfit lost to (respectable) Missouri, Iowa and Mike Hart-less Michigan.
Is it really a good thing if the teams we lose to beat us in the BCS? I mean, Oklahoma has a pretty respectable resume the last few years, if we want to look at that.
Who's this "we" shit? No self-respecting Buckeye fan talks like that. Just another hater in disguise. What about USC? Last three years: losses to UCLA, Stanford & Oregon St. They've been as loaded as anyone over that stretch. Care to comment about how great they are? I'd much rather lose to top 5 teams that be a top 5 team that has a knack for being upset by far inferior teams.
You know who USC has beaten in that span?
Penn State (by 14)
Ohio State (by 32)
Illinois (by 32)
Notre Dame (but who hasn't)
Michigan (by 14)
and over the past five years, they've beaten Auburn, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech on top of the others. Our quality win since then is...? 9-4 Texas in '06?
So go be a USC fan Sam. By the way, how many titles does USC have since 2001? That's right, 1. Same as the Buckeyes. So, if they are so much better, where's the titles? And if they were better, then their losses and lack of titles would be greater failures than ours.
Oh my God, Sam...you're the worst Buckeye fan of all time. I don't know what you're looking for...you act as if unless the Buckeyes go undefeated for the rest of your life, they'll never be considered "good" in your eyes. EVERY TEAM YOU'VE QUOTED has been upset. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!! The last teams to have gone undefeated were 2005 Texas, 2004 USC, and 2002 Ohio State.
Your expectations are so out far of whack that there's no way you can enjoy being a Buckeye fan! You need to check your history, because the Buckeyes have been losing critical games for decades (but so has every other team out there!). Even Woody F'ing Hayes went through bowl droughts! Even Woody had multiple-loss seasons. Even Woody Hayes lost to inferior teams. Some years you got it, and some you don't. Some Saturdays you play great, some Saturdays you play like shit. GET OVER IT!
This Buckeye team might not beat USC this year. Who the Fuck cares?! We could still go to a Rose Bowl or have the chance to beat an SEC team. Your animosity is so misplaced. It's college football...shit happens!
I don't know why you even plan on watching the Bucks this year because if they do end up beating USC, you're probably not even going to cheer. You'll angrily mumble something like, "About damn time." You embarrass all of us on this thread with your negativity.