Friday, August 1, 2008

Poll Insanity

USA Today released their pre-season Coach's Poll today. I won't comment on each and every team; rather I will highlight the rankings that please me and the rankings that make me believe a team of lobotomized mountain goats are actually picking the teams.

1. Georgia - Spot on, coaches. At the end of the 2007 season, the Bulldogs had a very valid argument that they should have been in the National Championship game. But the absolute stupidity that is the BCS precluded it. Instead, they exposed Colt Brennan and the Hawaii Super-gay Rainbows for the second rate team that they were. Unfortunately, Georgia has to run the SEC gauntlet in order to have a chance at the title, and that is a difficult, if not impossible this season, task to accomplish.

3. THE Ohio State University - For the D&F faithful, you should be able to predict what will be said here. If you're new to the awesomeness that is D&F, click here for a list of OSU-related posts. As we've highlighted before, OSU's schedule is a joke. The Big-10 is a joke. Much like the 2007 season, THE Ohio State University had padded the 2008 schedule with a litany of virtually guaranteed wins. Thus, they'll coast through the season while teams in real conferences beat each other up. OSU will end up in the National Championship, again. And they will lose, again.

9. Clemson - Seriously? The ACC is known for basketball, boys and girls. I know they have some fancy pants running back, but playing in the ACC is almost as bad as the Big-10. Clemson will lose early and often. I'd put good money on Clemson being out of the Top 25 by midseason.

11. Auburn - I like this position for my Tigers. Auburn was ranked 18 going into the 2004 season, and that turned out pretty well. Compare that to the 2003 season where the Tigers started at 6 and ended unranked. It appears the underdog approach is a winner for Auburn. Plus that no talent ass-clown Brandon Cox is no longer throwing interceptions for Auburn, and they have a new offensive coordinator that runs the spread offense. Good stuff.

21. South Florida - Whatever. USF was able to capitilize on a mentally weak Auburn team at the beginning of the 2007 season. In an Obama-like obsession, the sports media propelled them to the #2 spot where they quickly discovered reality. They ended the season unranked. Like Clemson, the Bulls will not last - look for them in a pre-Christmas bowl, if anything.

As a side note, 9 out of the 12 SEC teams are either ranked or received votes - Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt were the 3 that weren't listed. Once again, the SEC is the toughest conference and continues to field the top, well-balanced teams in the nation.