Preseason Top 25 For Next Season

by trainwreck on Jan 9, 2007 4:36 PM PST

Rivals.com's Bob McClellan released the Rivals Preseason Top 25:

USC
Michigan
LSU
West Virginia
Florida
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Oklahoma
Texas
Wisconsin
Louisville
Georgia
Nebraska
Auburn
California
Arkansas
Tennessee
Penn State
Rutgers
Florida State
Texas A&M
Notre Dame
Hawaii
Boston College
Clemson

Others receiving votes:
Wake Forest, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Maryland, South Florida, South Carolina, Oregon, Alabama, Miami (FL), TCU, Boise State, Missouri

NationalChamps.net also had their annual "Early Bird" Top 25, which is released around Thanksgiving day.

Their poll looked like this:

USC
Michigan
Ohio State
LSU
Oklahoma
Florida
West Virginia
Louisville
Virginia Tech
Texas
Arkansas
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Tennessee
UCLA
Auburn
Wake Forest
Texas A&M
California
Boston College
Notre Dame
South Carolina
Georgia
Penn State
South Florida

Others Receiving votes:
Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Miami (FL), Oregon State, Rutgers, TCU

As a whole I agree with the Rivals rankings more. I think OK and Ohio St are going to definitely drop down a bit next season.
Ranking UCLA at #15 is far too high for me. I would have them in the #23-25 range or off the list completely. This does gives a good idea of where UCLA is in regards to the national media. UCLA is expected to finish the season a ranked team and for some it should finish in the top half of the poll. That one ESPN article even suggested UCLA as a darkhorse national championship contender, which I think is really pushing it. The offense is going to need to show a lot of improvement to meet any lofty expectations like that. The defense has some issues, but I think another year in Coach Walker's system is going to make a big difference. The defense usually was a problem when they stopped being aggressive and would play a more prevent style of defense, which did not work at all. Hopefully Coach Walker can learn from those mistakes. We know Coach Dorrell does not seem to. If Karl Dorrell does end up being the coach/offensive coordinator then there are frankly no more excuses and UCLA has to produce.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Comments

If UCLA was able to lose Dorrell

We'd be ranked. I'm sick of idiots like Brent Musburger pointing out Dorrell's coaching mistakes. I think the national press is generally ignorant and the current ignorant POV is that Dorrell sucks.

by alcor805 on Jan 9, 2007 5:42 PM PST 0 recs

Ucla should be top 15...

not a doubt in my mind.

Our schedule looks favorable at home; I can't wait for Notre Dame.

I'm guessing the top 3 in the Pac 10 will be USC, Ucla, and Arizona with ASU, Oregon, and Cal not too far behind.

by BruinMark on Jan 9, 2007 9:38 PM PST 0 recs

Why?

Beyond wishful thinking, why do you think that next year will be significantly different from this year? So we get ND at home. We had Wazzu at home.

by Fox 71 on Jan 10, 2007 6:20 AM PST up 0 recs

20 returning starters for one...

and you guys always play well (besides Wazzu) at home.

You guys think your glass is half full, but it's going to be pretty damn good next year.

by ChrisHernandez on Jan 10, 2007 1:09 PM PST up 0 recs

Sure, but

It would be good even if we had a donkey coaching, exactly because of the reasons you gave. That's exactly the point. It has nothing to do with Dorrell, and if anything he might cost us a couple of games with poor play-calling. This year's team easily could have had 10 wins (UW, ND and FSU), and those weren't losses due to bad luck.

by tasser10 on Jan 10, 2007 1:20 PM PST up 0 recs

Enough with preseason polls

These polls are completely ludicrous and biased. They truly prevent some teams from playing for the national championship. It is so hard to break into the top echelon when you are left out of the poll right at the beginning of the season. And vice versa, when you are ranked high, you don't drop as much when you lose. Michigan was #3 when they beat Notre Dame, which was ranked #2! Well, we know both of those were a total fraud. But, hmm, how convenient for the TV folks! #2 vs. #3! Step right up folks! There should be no rankings until at least after the 3rd game. And no one should be allowed to play Div I-AA schools!

I think the Pac-10 order will be quite similar to this year, except with UW improving the most.

by tasser10 on Jan 10, 2007 6:51 AM PST 0 recs

Unfortunately......

Teams in the SEC refuse to play road games that often. They would much rather sell out their home stadium and make a $hitload of money. Even when they schedule a 1-AA school they still sellout. If you take away 1-AA schools they miss a big payday and the power schools lose money. It's a sad fact. I wish UCLA fans were as passionate as people in the SEC about football. They will spend absurd amounts of money to get a winner on their sidelines. Maybe we should do the same?

by bruinelder on Jan 10, 2007 10:03 AM PST up 0 recs

1-AA not acceptable

They can play a 1-AA school as much as they want, but not a single win over such a school should count in terms of bowl eligibility or improving your rankings. Regardless, SEC fans' passion is great and pretty much unmatched in any conference.

I don't think you need to spend absurd amounts of money to get a winner on the sidelines. Most of those guys earned that absurd money after proving their worth and winning early on. We can get a young talent and give him a reasonable salary. Urban Meyer was not in the top 10 in coaches' salary at Florida(though he might be after this year). Jim Tressel (Ohio State) was #8.

by tasser10 on Jan 10, 2007 1:12 PM PST up 0 recs

I completely agree.

1-AA victories should not count tward bowl eligibility. Here is another problem; Sometimes schools back out of an agreement and leave the other school hanging right before the season starts. The only teams willing to travel are 1-aa schools looking for 500k to get their asses handed to them. One example would be WVU this year was supposed to play Virginia Tech but then they backed out and WVU was forced to schedule some ceappy 1-AA school. What they need to do is trim 1-A down to 96 teams and have 8, twelve team conferences with a playoff system. It will never happen because of the big dollars involved. GO BRUINS!!!!

by bruinelder on Jan 11, 2007 1:40 PM PST up 0 recs

Quick Question

Why isn't Boise State getting any love? They aren't even ranked after finishing 5th in the country.

by abby8065 on Jan 10, 2007 8:35 AM PST 0 recs

dorrell vs. svoboda

someone mentioned dorrell being head coach/offensive coordinator? is that the case? has svoboda left? is he the problem or is dorrell? or is it the talent on the field? i know the popular thinking is that dorrell sucks and that the answer is to (in hindsight) get an urban meyer or a blue and gold version of pete carroll, but who would that be? who is the kind of head coach out there that could turn a program around in 2 years? or, does dorrell need better assistants? I'm not being rhetorical, just am curious what others think. personally, i am disappointed dorrell hasnt taken the program farther. I am pleased there are no more parking scandals, fist fights, etc off the field, but on the field, after all these years, I expect more. I was hopeful when he signed on, but now think next year is it.

by smayhew on Jan 10, 2007 1:07 PM PST 0 recs

ESPN's Mark Schlabach

has the Bruins ranked #20 in his preseason 2007 poll, with Pom Pom's thugs #1. He also, interestingly, seems to infer that Dorrell was saved by the USC win (can u say "Lavin Moment" everyone?) and that 2007 will be "a very important year" for KD (no shit?)

by godblesstyus95 on Jan 10, 2007 4:43 PM PST 0 recs