ESPN.com will reconfigure Division I football

This is great! I can't wait to see which teams get cut.

I love that the play-in game is in Dayton.

This should be fun.

Here's my top 40, in no real order, for the hell of it.

1. USC
2. Florida
3. Utah
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. Oklahoma State
7. Texas
8. Texas Tech
9. Ohio State
10. Penn State
11. Michigan State
12. Michigan - only because this is a first-year draft.
13. Auburn
14. Tennessee
15. East Carolina
16. Missouri
17. Florida State
18. Clemson
19. Virginia Tech
20. Georgia Tech
21. Georgia
22. Boston College
23. West Virginia
24. Cincy
25. Brigham Young
26. Wisconsin
27. Iowa
28. Oregon
29. Oregon State
30. Arizona
31. North Carolina
32. Maryland
33. Nebraska
34. California
35. Alabama
36. Mississippi
37. Ball State
38. Central Michigan
39. Pittsburgh
40. Rutgers


FIRST FIVE OUT:
Michigan
Tennessee
Auburn
Iowa
Clemson

NEXT SIX IN:
ND
Northwestern
Miami
Minnesota
UCLA
ARIZONA STATE

There are so many teams with mediocre records that I had to leave some out. I'm sure I also forgot some teams. I wanted to make sure I had some mid-majors involved. Maybe East Carolina should have made the cut.

If this were not in its first year, Auburn, UT, Michigan and Illinois would probably not be on this list.

 

So no Kansas in your top 51? Really? They have won a BCS bowl in the past two seasons. [/fanboi]

 

I'd think Boise State has to be on that list. Undefeated regular season last year, def. Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl a couple years ago, one of more consistent programs in the country the last decade (5-4 in bowl games, won six WAC titles in seven years, and two Big West titles before that).

 

I'd add Boise, Miami (Fla.) and Northwestern and drop ECU, CMU and Pitt

 

It'll never happen, but I'd love to see the BCS schools form a mega-conference with promotion and relegation as a part of it.

 

I was surprised they didn't take TCU.

 

Here's the list: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4375901

I would put TCU and Cincy in mine. Both have great coaches who seem committed to staying.
Also, Notre Dame wouldn't sniff my top 20. Fuck them.

I'm not exactly sure what the criteria was for this little exercise, but it certainly seems like there are some teams that could make some damn good arguments. Schlabach put Okie State in the top 25, which is fine based on what they were a year ago and what most expect them to be in the future, especially in 2009. But the Pokes hadn't done shit since joining the league in '96. Kansas has sucked until recently. And Kansas State, which I'd imagine wasn't even in the discussion, is a team that's had something like six 11-win seasons in the last 10 years or so and is the last North team to win a Big 12 title. That said, they'll probably suck until forever.

No real complaints with the SEC teams or the slotting. Same goes for the ACC. Was okay with the Big East aside from the Cincinnati omission -- though Pitt and Rutgers and USF probably deserve to be in the discussion.

Hated seeing Penn State in there over Michigan though I think the two schools are comparable. But if the criteria is based on what will happen in the future, I'd say Michigan is better equipped w/ Rich Rod than Penn State is with JoPa. Was glad to see Iowa get picked so high. An underrated program by my estimation. Hated seeing Wisconsin go that high. They've gotten worse each of the last three years and, like Forde said, might be headed for a sub-.500 season in '09.

Pac-10. Hmm. Hard to take Washington after an 0-12 season, but it's also hard to leave them out. Willingham set the program on fire but I don't think there's any doubt that they'll be back soon.

Overall, a fun list.

 

Boy, a reader from Nashville saying Tennessee should be in the top 10. Knock me over with a feather.

 

And Pat Forde represents!

 

Yeah, K-State had six 11-win seasons and went to 11-straight bowl games. We basically picked up where Nebraska left off in 1997.

I wasn't so much shocked to see K-State not on there as who was there from the South. We've had a couple of bad years (but notice we've dominated one of the top-5 teams...we've definitely had Texas' number the last two times we played them.) Texas A&M? Oklahoma State? Really, ESPN?

It's a very strange list overall. And Mark Schlabach obviously smoked something good before doing his picks for this.

 

Yeah, except without the national titles.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

And Forde justifies my preemptive strike in the first post in the thread.

Chase Daniel was "the architect of the turnaround" at Missouri. The last two years, while they merited consideration for this list, are over.