USA Today preseason Top 25

Go back to an SEC fanboard, looser!

 

And I say this argument is backwards. As though Boise State is somehow "penalized."

FACT: At least half the teams in the top 25 would run the table with Boise State's schedule.

The only difference between those other teams and BSU is that they don't get to play BSU's schedule.

So, IMO, rewarding BSU for an undefeated season by letting it play for the national title is, in effect, penalizing all those other teams who would have done the same thing.

It's why a 78-game hitting streak in Triple-A will not be recognized as breaking DiMaggio's streak. The hitter MAY well be of major-league quality. And some of the pitchers he got hits off of MAY be major-league quality as well. But the BODY OF HIS WORK was accomplished against horribly subpar competition. And there can be no way of getting around this inconvenient truth.

 

Not to sound like a WVU fanboy but I'll point out that the only reason they're playing Marshall is because the governor of W.Va. stepped in a few years ago and mandated that they play.

And the Mississippi State series was scheduled in the spring of 2004 -- a few months before Sylvester Croom coached his first game there -- with the hope that ol' Sly would've built Bully's program into something respectable by 2006 and '07 ... or at least cut the nuts off a bull by then.

This is likely the last year anyone can bitch about WVU's schedule, though -- coming on board in the coming years are Auburn (2008 and '09), Michigan State ('10 and '11), FSU ('12 and '13) and I'll even include Colorado ('08 and '09) in that mix as long as Hawk fast-tracks the Buffs back to respectability.

 

I'm not ragging on them for playing Marshall, it's the best game of the 4! Those Auburn games should be something to look forward to.

 

IMO ... This is the year Michigan beats Ohio State and gets beat by someone silly, like Illinois.

Miami has a ton of talent, finally some accountability and something to prove. My Butch Davis Gut Instinct tells me they rebound big, and win the ACC.

 

IMO, Michigan can't get out of the Camp unscathed, but then again, I'm biased.

 

Question on the Coaches poll: Does AP move a story about this? I don't see one.

 

Thanks BTE, I think you summed up what I have always felt about this in one post.

 

Here's our headline for Saturday:

"College coaches pick Trojans"

 

Yeah, 58-7 since 2002 (with four losses in one year) is pretty shitty

 

I don't think anyone is saying Boise State's record is shitty or even pretending 58-7 isn't amazing, but if USC was playing Idaho State and Idaho and Portland State and San Jose State and Utah State and New Mexico State and had one game against a Pac-10 team (Oregon State, generally) and a random game against a MAC team and one game against Georgie, I'm think USC would have gone 64-1 or 65-0 with the same schedule.

58-7 is nice, but not with who they are playing.