Starting within the range

[JR4AU]

Top Ten start and the highest ranked team with five or more losses:

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/football/polls/coaches-poll/

My take:

1. Ohio State. Voters only remember the finish.  OSU was a pretty pedestrian team most of last season.  Lost at home to VT, struggled with Penn State, Minnesota, Indiana and even Navy.  But the win over an Alabama team that, frankly, wasn't nearly as good as its record indicated and then beating the perpetually overrated Oregon Fucks makes people think Urban and his team is invincible.  It isn't.  Despite playing a schedule that makes South Alabama jealous, this team won't finish unbeaten. It's sitting here after getting the same bounce Bob Stoops and OU got for beating "we didn't want to be here anyway" greatest team of all time, the heading-for-the-tunnel Tuscaloosa McCarrons two years ago.  Will probably get the same result OU got after having smoke blown up its ass for bringing a reserve quarterback on the punish an overrated Bama team. 

2. TCU. Eh. The Horny Frogs are always trying to crack the glass ceiling.  Good defense and a good coach. After getting shafted a year ago, either TCU or Baylor will get a playoff shot if they don't fuck things up badly along the way.  Will be TCU.   

3. Alabama. Fuck's sake.  Whatever.  This team wasn't as good as it appeared a year ago and it won't get better. I keep waiting for the lazy/inept coaching to put this team in a bind its raw talent and depth can't overcome.  It usually happens at least once (Ole Miss last year) and always should happen three or four times a season (Arkansas, MSU and even Auburn last year).  At some point the wheels will fall off, the lockerroom will divide and this team will fracture due to the massive egos that abound.  Will this be that year?  Hopefully.  Regardless third is too high.

4. Baylor. Nope. Both Baylor and TCU can't be in the Top Four.  One has to fall and the Barely Bears are it. 

5. Oregon.  When their fans put their hands together and bellow "OOOOO" through them, I always thought that meant "Oregon."  I know now that it means "Overrated."   Easily the most overrated team of the last decade.  Name a big stage and the Ducks have shit on it.  Two national championship games in which the team looked outmanned. Every time it comes up against Stanford. No exception here.  The Fucks will lose a game or two, still make the playoff round and whoever draws them will celebrate by beating their ass. 

6. Michigan State.  Sparty gets votes for being the sacrificial lamb for Ohio State a year ago.  B1G officials demanded they lay down so Ohio State would have a shot at the Final Four and boy did they ever.  They laid down like Roberto No Mas Duran.   I wonder what they were promised?  Does the rest of the league have to roll over and play dead for them this season?  Wouldn't surprise me.  Also wouldn't surprise me to see the Sparts as the B1G representative in the Final Four

7.  Auburn.  Feels okay.  I can see how this team could be questioned. Should have beaten A&M. Should have beaten MSU. Should have beaten UA. Should have won the bowl game. Gave up and played dead at UGA thanks to an A&M hangover.   Over the past two seasons the only thing this team lacked -- the ONLY thing -- is the ability to close out games and go for the kill.  If Muschamp brings even a little of that to the defense?  The sky's the limit.  Seriously.  If this team makes ONE extra defensive stop in all the games it lost over the last two seasons -- just a single series in each -- you're looking at a two-time defending national champion.  That's the reality.  This team may not have the on-paper talent of Alabama, say, but it has better coaching (assuming Muschamp can do anything at all on defense), better game management and better players at the skill positions.   

8. Florida State. Jimbo Fisher is a mewling assclown. Grown to hate him with rancor. The program is off the rails in terms of discipline and accountability. It has no quarterback. It has questions all over the field.  Eight is too high, except for the fact that the team plays in the equivalent of the 6A division of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.  They'll float around the top ten but won't be worth a fiddling shit.

9. Georgia. This is the year Mark Richt, uhhhhh, loses some games he isn't supposed to and has the Bulldogs "that close" to competing.  Again. 

10. USC. Sympathy pick by people who remember the glory days of the 70s.  Unless the Trojans are cheating like motherfuckers (see Alabama 2008-2015) they can't compete week in and week out. 

11. Notre Dame.  Too high.  Fuck them.
12. Clemson. Fuck Dabo. But will end up higher than FSU.
13. LSU. Add a quarterback and this could be a much better team than people anticipate. Oops, they don't have one within 300 miles of Baton Rouge.
14. UCLA. No. Sorry.
15. Ole Miss. The fans will surround a bawling Hugh Freeze when the Ackbars rebound from a second loss to beat New Mexico State at Homecoming.  After a narrow win over Memphis, the Black Bears will drop five straight.  A banner will be hung anyway.
16. Arizona State.  They play in the desert.  No one will notice. 
17. Georgia Tech. Too high.
18. Wisconsin.  Who cares?
19.  Oklahoma. Sympathy Stoops votes. 
20. Arkansas.  HAHAHHAHA.  No.
21. Stanford.  Will beat Oregon and climb to 12 before losing to teams nobody has ever heard of.
22. Missouri.  Sympathy gay votes.
24. Boise State.  Hey, remember when Boise beat Oklahoma that time?  Let's keep them in the Top 25 forever!
25. Tennessee. Biggest. Joke. In. The. Poll. 

Notable omissions:
Texas, Michigan, Nebraska, Miami, Penn State from the Prehistoric Division.
A&M, Mississippi State, Florida from the "Our coach is black and cool, yeah but we got Dak, McElwuss coached with Saban, dammit!" Division
and also:
Virginia "Beat OSU" Tech, South "Our coach is older than hell, but looks good and does not give a single fuck" Carolina, North "We got Chizik" Carolina and "Didn't You See What We Did to Manziel" Duke.

Really don't give much of a shit about any but Auburn.  These "shoulda beat" or "almost beat" last year teams should get over the hump.  I'm really hoping Muschamp is the difference.  As you said, one stop more per game and We're on a run like we've never seen before.  We're damn close. 

[jmar]

Really don't give much of a shit about any but Auburn.  These "shoulda beat" or "almost beat" last year teams should get over the hump.  I'm really hoping Muschamp is the difference.  As you said, one stop more per game and We're on a run like we've never seen before.  We're damn close.

The CFB stats support this. And Florida with an all but inept offense far surpassed our defense in its one score loses by pressuring the opposing QB- in tackles for loss and passes broken up.

It's my hope that when we struggle on offense Muschamp will make the difference...when we come out flat in the third quarter or when we are stuggling in the redzone on offense (settling for FG attempts) which we almost doubled in success rate in victory. We had three picks v. Alabama but were shutout in TFL and passes defended in our last two loses.   
   

[GH2001]

Really don't give much of a shit about any but Auburn.  These "shoulda beat" or "almost beat" last year teams should get over the hump.  I'm really hoping Muschamp is the difference.  As you said, one stop more per game and We're on a run like we've never seen before.  We're damn close.

Agree...because every "shoulda" won, we probably had an equal and opposite "shoulda" lost (ole miss, sc, k state maybe). Shouldas are for Ga fans. F that noise.

[Kaos]

Agree...because every "shoulda" won, we probably had an equal and opposite "shoulda" lost (ole miss, sc, k state maybe). Shouldas are for Ga fans. F that noise.

Agreed.  Not saying that. 

Merely pointing out that with one extra defensive stop -- one less extended offensive series for the opposition and by that result, one more offensive series for Auburn -- there is only one loss (Georgia) over the last two years. 

Every year has games that could have gone either way for every team with the exception of the cheating ass Turds.  But if you look at every Auburn loss since Malzahn arrived, there is a clear and consistent pattern.  The defense fails to get off the field on third down in almost every one.  Third and short. Converted. Third and 23. Converted. Over and over and over.  Change that by one series?  It changes a lot.

Kick Six game is compelling evidence.  Two series-ending stops allowed AU to stay in the game and set up the finish.  One stop against Ole Miss last season was the difference.  The close wins?  You'll find that one series where the defense came through almost every time.

Adding one more shorter series against KSU, SC and Ole Miss puts those games away for Auburn.  One against FSU sews up the national title.   

[GH2001]

Agreed.  Not saying that. 

Merely pointing out that with one extra defensive stop -- one less extended offensive series for the opposition and by that result, one more offensive series for Auburn -- there is only one loss (Georgia) over the last two years. 

Every year has games that could have gone either way for every team with the exception of the cheating ass Turds.  But if you look at every Auburn loss since Malzahn arrived, there is a clear and consistent pattern.  The defense fails to get off the field on third down in almost every one.  Third and short. Converted. Third and 23. Converted. Over and over and over.  Change that by one series?  It changes a lot.

Kick Six game is compelling evidence.  Two series-ending stops allowed AU to stay in the game and set up the finish.  One stop against Ole Miss last season was the difference.  The close wins?  You'll find that one series where the defense came through almost every time.

Adding one more shorter series against KSU, SC and Ole Miss puts those games away for Auburn.  One against FSU sews up the national title.

Although I will admit, and you just reminded me of it - but the shoulda against FSU still eats at me. As proud as I was of our guys in that game, against practically a team full of NFL players (per the last 2 drafts). It still stings. We really should have won it. And it shouldnt have even been close.

Fake punt...F me.

[Kaos]

Although I will admit, and you just reminded me of it - but the shoulda against FSU still eats at me. As proud as I was of our guys in that game, against practically a team full of NFL players (per the last 2 drafts). It still stings. We really should have won it. And it shouldnt have even been close.

Fake punt...F me.

KO return.  F e'erbody. 

The Bama game last year... Jesus. 

Convert field goals into TDs and it's 56-28 heading to the fourth.  Toss in a stop or two?  Demoralizing to them.     Should have been an absolute rout.  At least the equivalent of what OSU (with just a smidge of slow, white defense) did to them.  That was NOT a great team.  It was imminently beatable if people could have gotten out of their own way.  Arky missed a PAT.  MSU played like keystone cops.  A really weak LSU team should have beaten that ass.  They were shitty last year and I don't think they'll be a hell of a lot better this season.  At some point that has to catch up to them. 

Anyway... 

We add just a little defense and keep moving the ball on offense about 3/4 as well as we did last year?  There's not a team on the schedule we can't dominate. 

And that's all I really want.  Ever.  I don't ever want to be Mississippi State or Ole Miss or teams like that who look at the schedule every fall and go "loss, loss, probable loss, tossup..."   I want to see the potential to win every game.  And we have that again.  Put anybody you want on the schedule and I'm not going to see it as hopeless.

Hope.  It's such a glorious and simultaneously cruel thing. 

We had it with Dye.  There was a time we had it with Bowden even.  We had it at times under Tuberville (although you KNEW there was going to be that one game where he'd go into a shell and lose one we should win while you also KNEW there was one he shouldn't win but would...).   

We have it again (big dose actually). 

[Godfather]

We had it with Dye.  There was a time we had it with Bowden even.  We had it at times under Tuberville (although you KNEW there was going to be that one game where he'd go into a shell and lose one we should win while you also KNEW there was one he shouldn't win but would...).   

Had it with Cam, there wasn't a single game that year no matter how far we got behind where I knew we were going to win.

[jmar]

Had it with Cam, there wasn't a single game that year no matter how far we got behind where I knew we were going to win.

Maybe LSU.

[Kaos]

Had it with Cam, there wasn't a single game that year no matter how far we got behind where I knew we were going to win.

Yeah.  True.  But that was also Malzahn. 

Not Chizik.  That big dumb lummox could have been a legend if he hadn't let his ego get in the way. Couldn't let Malzahn get the credit and turn his attention to the defense and go on a run like AU has never seen.  Nope.  I read his book and knew there was a problem.  Big ass no-cattle ego. 

[GH2001]

Had it with Cam, there wasn't a single game that year no matter how far we got behind where I knew we were going to win.

All of this.

What a fun ride 2010 was game by game.

[GH2001]

Yeah.  True.  But that was also Malzahn. 

Not Chizik.  That big dumb lummox could have been a legend if he hadn't let his ego get in the way. Couldn't let Malzahn get the credit and turn his attention to the defense and go on a run like AU has never seen.  Nope.  I read his book and knew there was a problem.  Big ass no-cattle ego.

And even now, refuses to acknowledge he was even part of the issue. I respected him at least even though he was a failure. Thought he was a nice guy. But the shit he said last week? F him.

[Kaos]

And even now, refuses to acknowledge he was even part of the issue. I respected him at least even though he was a failure. Thought he was a nice guy. But the shit he said last week? F him.

Link?  I was in Arizona last week and nobody there cares about Auburn except to be SUPER pissed that we stole their softball coach.

[AUJarhead]

Link?  I was in Arizona last week and nobody there cares about Auburn except to be SUPER pissed that we stole their softball coach.

http://collegefootball.blog.ajc.com/2015/08/05/gene-chizik-says-he-was-tarred-and-feathered-erroneously-at-auburn/

Former Auburn coach Gene Chizik said he was a scapegoat at Auburn.

“I feel like at times I got tarred and feathered erroneously, because I think a lot of people didn’t do their homework,” Chizik told the AP last week. “There were a lot of assumptions made that were absolutely false and incorrect. I stand by everything that I did. I have absolutely nothing to hide and I never will because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I always did it right.”

Chizik was fired by Auburn after going 3-9 (0-8 in the SEC) in 2012, just two years after winning the national championship with Cam Newton at QB. Newton also won the Heisman Trophy in Auburn’s 14-0 season in 2010.

    His tenure also had off-field turmoil, including an NCAA investigation of Newton’s recruitment and a report alleging academic fraud and payments to athletes. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs disputed that report in April 2013 after an internal investigation and defended the coach he had recently fired as “a man of the utmost character and integrity.

Chizik worked in broadcasting and didn’t coach the past seasons after being fired by Auburn. He returned to coaching this season as defensive coordinator at North Carolina,  which allowed 497.8 yards and 39 points a game last year.

“I’m not looking to be a head coach,” Chizik said. “I’ve been there and done that. If the opportunity arises again, then that’s great. I’ll look at it. If it doesn’t, I won’t bat an eyelash. I’m having a blast. I love right now getting back into having the defense fully mine.”

[GH2001]

http://collegefootball.blog.ajc.com/2015/08/05/gene-chizik-says-he-was-tarred-and-feathered-erroneously-at-auburn/

Did everything right but went winless in sec play. Think on that for a second.

[Snaggletiger]

Yeah, those comments turn the stomach.  He also gave no credit to anyone in his book.  Well, as much of it as I could get through.  One of the most boring things I've ever had the displeasure of reading.

[jmar]

Houston Nutt knew better too. Can't let a high school coach get all of the glory.

[AUJarhead]

Houston Nutt knew better too. Can't let a high school coach get all of the glory.

His gimmicky offense wouldn't work in the SEC anyway.

[jmar]

His gimmicky offense wouldn't work in the SEC anyway.

Hell we've had a gimmicky offense and a gimmicky defense operating in unison.
And it almost works!

[Snaggletiger]

His gimmicky offense wouldn't work in the SEC anyway.

I heard someone on Finebaum today, apparently a Bama beat writer or something.  Came in late and didn't catch the name. Not Cecil Twerp.  Anywayz, he said something that absolutely hit the nail on the head.  He was asked what he has seen Bama fans being concerned with and he said they all ask why they have so much trouble with spread teams.  His answer was spot on.  He said the problem is that coaches like Gus Malzahn and Urban Meyer do spread you out, but the bread and butter for both is a north-south POWER running game.  He said if a team can spread you out and run it right at you, there is absolutely nothing you can do to match up.

 

[jmar]

I heard someone on Finebaum today, apparently a Bama beat writer or something.  Came in late and didn't catch the name. Not Cecil Twerp.  Anywayz, he said something that absolutely hit the nail on the head.  He was asked what he has seen Bama fans being concerned with and he said they all ask why they have so much trouble with spread teams.  His answer was spot on.  He said the problem is that coaches like Gus Malzahn and Urban Meyer do spread you out, but the bread and butter for both is a north-south POWER running game.  He said if a team can spread you out and run it right at you, there is absolutely nothing you can do to match up.

Hugh Freeze has just now caught on. How effective they can be with a returning line and actual lifesize running backs might determine the Ackbar's fate in the grueling, punishing SEC West.