ESPN Pre-seaon Ranking
1. USC
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma
6. Georgia
7. Florida St.
8. South Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Michigan
11. West Virginia
12. Michigan State
13. Kansas State
14. TCU
15. Stanford
16. Wisconsin
17. Nebraska
18. Clemson
19. Virginia Tech
20. Ohio State
21. Oklahoma State
22. Texas
23. Boise State
24. Notre Dame
25. Florida
What are your thoughts on being number 20 and 5th in the Big ten?
Can't expect much more after a 6-7 season. Im more concerned about where we are at the end of the season
Sorry Urban, Woody is still my favorite
Appropriate, and bulletin board worthy all at the same time.
vacuuming sucks
I find it funny that teams without a determined QB and with worse defenses than us are ranked ahead of us. Oh well, proving the doubters wrong is half the fun.
You mean 5th in the Big Ten.
Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska are ranked ahead of us
Watching the week to week tweeks and what will be vast improvements especially for say weeks 2 through 6 will be great fun to watch. We will get a look at the quality of our coaching staff right there. Hope we increase scoring totals by 7 - 14 points each week. I get all giddy just imagining the possibilities. Must stop now, too long until the season starts.
Sorry 5th in the Big ten.... i think i over looked Michigan State my bad
I would say that it's very unlikely that we finish fifth in the B1G. The lowest I could realistically see is third, and that's if our offense doesn't show up to a couple games.
I know this is just a meaningless post-Spring preseason ranking, but is this the first time in a long time that the Big Ten has had 5 ranked teams?
Also interesting the SEC has 6 ranked teams here.
SEC also has 5 of the top 9
Sorry Urban, Woody is still my favorite
It is good there are 5 teams from the big ten in the top 25, thought it means nothing.
I know a lot will probably disagree with me, but I don't think we should be ranked. We've done absolutely nothing to deserve being ranked in the top ~40 or so, much less in the top 25.
^ Because Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, and Texas have? It's a Preseason Top 25, it's pretty much all based on perception and the amount of talent each team has brought in the previous year.
@ William
Did I say a word about any team other than Ohio State? I'm talking about Ohio State only. In general I don't like pre-season rankings for the reasons you outlined. Won't know what any team is made of until Week 1 has passed. If we look better than about 95 other teams out there after Week 1, then I'll say we should be ranked then. :)
My point was there are several teams ranked in that Top 25 that have more problems than OSU does, so with that being said I'd say we can/should be ranked in the Top 25. Also you really think there are roughly 40 teams better than us? I do agree with you that the Preseason Poll is a waste, but since it comes out we might as well promote our team as belonging in it.
I'd say, based on returning talent alone, we definitely deserve to be ranked in the top 20, and here's why: Last year, we went 6-7, which by OSU standards is awful. However, can you name 20 other teams that could lose their head coach and starting QB a few months before the season, lose their #1 WR for most of the season, lose their #1 RB for half of the season, bring in a coach with absolutely 0 head coaching experience on the fly, and start a true freshman QB and still win 6 games in a BCS conference, including against Wisconsin? Aside from the OL, we return most of our starters on each unit from last season. We also have Miller with a full year under his belt, and bring in arguably the top head coach in CFB over the last decade along with an incredibly elite recruiting class. Wouldn't you say that's worth at least 2-3 wins? I'd say 8-9 wins by year's end generally will end with a top 20 ranking, so I'd say it's absolutely deserved. (glasses pushed back on nosebridge)
well said, sir
my bigger questions are why is wvu ranked 11 k. st 13 and stanford 15? Most importantly I dont see montee ball winning that many games for wisky they lost everyone one else toon wilson zeitler konz etc
mark may wins douchebag of the year... again
@ William
I fully understand your point, I suppose I just hate "projections". Show me on the field. To your question about whether or not there are 25 teams better than us -- I don't know. I know we had more talent last year than any team we played with the exception of Florida. We lost 6 of those games where we had more talent than our opponent. But outside factors, along with having incompetent coaching on the offensive side of the ball translated to losing 6 games where we had the talent advantage.
This year we will likely be significantly improved. I'd like to think we're worthy of a top 15 ranking by the end of the year, but without seeing how we execute on offense, I don't know. There isn't anyone on our schedule that we shouldn't beat from a talent perspective and a coaching perspective this year, but I guess I'm just a wait and see kinda guy with so many factors (coaching, offensive style, etc.) changing at once.
And to be clear, I'm not saying that we won't prove to be worthy of such a ranking, I certainly hope we prove that we're even better than #20, I just don't see the point in pre-season rankings like this with so many variables changing when we haven't earned anything yet. Hope I am communicating my point clearly.
Stanford will be pretty good, Luck was a great player, but they have built a pretty good team at this point. WVU is probably ranked there because people are used to them playing Big East teams and not losing too many. Moving to the Big XII will be tough for them I think and will likely end up much lower than that this year. K St. had a surprisingly good season last year and I don't think they lost too much. Bill Snyder is an amazing coach and while 13 might be too high, I think in terms of recent performance they may have earned that spot more than we earned ours (see Razr above).
And just to add on a bit, I'd love to see us come out and just destroy teams this year. No reason, with decent offensive execution that we shouldn't beat Miami, UAB, and UCF by 30-40 points. And I would love to think that by mid-season even playing some Big Ten squads that we'll be able to just destroy them, as well. We have the talent advantage. We just need offensive execution. And Meyer won't be like Tressel and call the dogs off and do run, run, run, punt. All he'll do is put the 2's and 3's in. He'll still call plays to score points.
The SEC should have at least 4 in the top 9. Bama is going to be great again and the champ always gets ranked high pre-season. LSU is still going to be very good, in fact many were saying last year the team would be better this season. Arkansas returns a TON of talent and they were top 10 last year. Georgia is loaded. I don't know much about South Carolina, they are always ranked high pre-season, I'm a little surprised they are ranked ahead of Arkansas really. I guess they did have a pretty good season last year though.
As for Ohio State, 20 is about right, but if they were unranked I wouldn't be shocked. Yes, a lot of talent is returning, but let's face it, they were bad last year and were really bad in their bowl game. They have a great coach now, but he's going to be implementing a completely new offense. The staff is completely different. There are some question marks on the O-Line. Will Braxton make a big step forward? A lot to wonder. So, I don't know that I'd say there are a lot of teams who have more problems than the Buckeyes in the top 25.
I can, however, see this team exceed the top 20 expectations. There is a ton of talent coming back. There is a tremendous staff in place now. The B1G is bad so they are bound to win some games. I also think the attitude of the team is different. Last year was a bad year both from a coaching perspective and on the field. The locker room couldn't have been a fun place last year. A lot of guys just wanted to get through the season.
This year everyone is going to be rip roarin and ready to go. I think the offense takes a step forward. I think the defense is significantly better. I also think there will be a lot of leadership on this team which was lacking last year. Plus, Urban will have them playing with a chip on their shoulder. These seniors don't get a chance to win a title on their way out, they don't get a bowl game. Urban is going to press those buttons, have the guys playing angry and mean. I wouldn't be surprised for this team to pull of a really good season.