With the preseason
AP poll now out as Jake had mentioned, a few thoughts come to mind:
AP voters have it right:
Florida (No. 5) getting more votes than defending national champions
LSU (No. 7). LSU is talented as usual, but basically has no experience outside of its head coach this year.
AP voters are mostly right: Putting
Georgia at No. 1. I don't think any of us will disagree that Georgia's sickly awesome this year. But, then again, all of those expectations are a hard thing to manage. They get this high ranking, in large part, because of their decapitation of
Colt Brennan slash
Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.
How impressive is that... really? (I did see the eighth-string Mr. Brennan throw some fine slant patterns in the fourth quarter of the Redskins' preseason game the other day.) We'll find out.
AP voters will be surprised: I think the success of "other votes" mainstays,
Michigan State, Fresno State, Utah and
Wake Forest are going to shake up the poll. (One of the keys to the success of the Utes and Wake? Experience. All of Wake's guys are red-shirted their freshman year and everyone on Utah, because of the Mormon mission thing, is, like 38.)
AP voters are mostly wrong:
Penn State at No. 22. Late-period Joe Pa essentially guarantees this: 7-5, the Alamo Bowl and, apparently a ranking the following year. How Penn State continues to sneak into the preseason polls despite being the poster child of Big Ten mediocrity is baffling.
AP voters are smoking crack:
Texas Tech at No. 12,
Clemson at No. 9, and, of course,
Missouri at No. 6. One more thing, I hate
Notre Dame as much as the next guy. But for a team to land the second-best recruiting class and return its QB and many other starters this year and get only two votes in the poll is lame. I still think they are the Yankees of football, but Notre Dame is going to be much better this year. Mark my words.
Just finished a highly entertaining book I wish I had written, A Few Seconds of Panic by the WSJ's Stefan Fatsis. For the first time since George Plimpton embedded with the Lions in 1963, an NFL team allowed a writer to join a team for training camp. Fatsis suited up for the Broncos as a kicker. That's obviously not the most exciting position to read about -- getting his bell rung by John Lynch while running a post pattern would have made for more drama. But Fatsis steps outside his realm of finicky kickers often enough to deliver plenty of X's and O's, some startlingly blunt interviews with players, coaches and front-office types and, most interestingly, provides a peek into the players' psyche:
One thing Mr. Daniel can fall back on should he fail in his quest for a national title: his startling resemblance to George Wendt of Cheers fame. Will Mr. Daniel be an All American or a barfly at year's end? Only time will tell.
Who the heck is South Dakota State? Quite simply, they are the Jackrabbits. That's right, an animal that probably has never been seen on the South Dakota prairie ever. Watch out Iowa State!
AP voters are smoking crack: Texas Tech at No. 12, Clemson at No. 9, and, of course, Missouri at No. 6. One more thing, I hate Notre Dame as much as the next guy. But for a team to land the second-best recruiting class and return its QB and many other starters this year and get only two votes in the poll is lame. I still think they are the Yankees of football, but Notre Dame is going to be much better this year. Mark my words.
A DMN piece today on SMU's new defensive coordinator Tom Mason describes how the Mustangs hope to use a high-risk, high-reward defensive scheme this year. Says Mr. Mason, "If we give one up, that's the way it goes." Hmmm. Sounds like a recipe for, er, success.
You're a superstar, Michael. You're Tiger Woods and Barack Obama combined right now. You could run for president or date any model in the world. String some sentences together and let's do this thing. Garn.
