USA Today Coaches Poll

[Matt Cotcher]

Word is many are uber impressed with OU's D. . . .I'm curious if anyone knows why?

Granted held Bama 6 points under their season average . ..with 5 turnovers . ..KSU scored their season average .. . 

What have they returned that has made their D that much better than last year?

Read this & then we'll chat about their D:

SOONERS

 

[jrcruz1026]

I think Missouri should be ranked, 'Bama is ranked too high, I think Auburn should be ranked 2 or 3. Oregon should be at #2 IMO. Michigan State should also be ranked higher as well, 'Bama should be like 9th or 10th.

 

[echeese]

OK, read it. . .again. . . .

Largely same D as last year, 1 more year of experience .. . .They still gave up plenty of points late in the season when they were supposedly gelling. ..

Face it, without out 4 turnovers (5th occured too late in the game to matter)  Bama rolls them. . . 

But my question remains largely unanswered .. .very solid D last year but they were not elite. . .many are touting them as one of the best in the nation. . .that is my question. . .what is driving many to think they go from very good to outstanding .. . . and their biggest strength is speed which is negated by running right at them. . . 

SFgirl,

Upon further review USC's D was better than I thought.. . .still. . . not sure I see it .. .USC might regret letting Oregeron go. . . 

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Largely same D as last year, 1 more year of experience .. . .They still gave up plenty of points late in the season when they were supposedly gelling. ..

Face it, without out 4 turnovers (5th occured too late in the game to matter)  Bama rolls them. . . 

But my question remains largely unanswered .. .very solid D last year but they were not elite. . .many are touting them as one of the best in the nation. . .that is my question. . .what is driving many to think they go from very good to outstanding .. . . and their biggest strength is speed which is negated by running right at them. . . 

1. Even if added experience makes them go from good, up to very good, why is that a bad thing? Those athletes with a year of experience should be more than enough to dominate 75% of the Big 12 offenses.

2. Last year, in the last half of the season, they held 3 of their last 4 Big 12 opponents under their scoring average. That includes Baylor and OkStU (top 2 scoring teams in the league) - I'm not following your point?

3. Re: the bowl game - their D is dangerously predicated on TO's. That makes it unfair to say, "without turnover they get rolled". Of course they would....but that statement is not congruent with how they play defense?

I'm not saying the Sooners will have the best defense in the nation. Not at all.

But that talent should easily be enough to help them roll through a Big 12 that should be fairly pedestrian this year.

 

[echeese]

1. Even if added experience makes them go from good, up to very good, why is that a bad thing? Those athletes with a year of experience should be more than enough to dominate 75% of the Big 12 offenses.

2. Last year, in the last half of the season, they held 3 of their last 4 Big 12 opponents under their scoring average. That includes Baylor and OkStU (top 2 scoring teams in the league) - I'm not following your point?

3. Re: the bowl game - their D is dangerously predicated on TO's. That makes it unfair to say, "without turnover they get rolled". Of course they would....but that statement is not congruent with how they play defense?

I'm not saying the Sooners will have the best defense in the nation. Not at all.

But that talent should easily be enough to help them roll through a Big 12 that should be fairly pedestrian this year.

OU only gained 24 turnovers last year .. . of the top 50 teams in turnover margin, that total number is nearer the bottom than the middle much less the top. . . . 

Thus a 4 turnover game vs a good team (Bama only lost 17 all year) is an anomoly. . .. and yes. . .more than fair to point out.

I didn't say added experience was bad, I asked why some (and didn't say you) are calling their D elite. . . .

In OU's last 5 conference games, they were impressive vs OSU (now this was impressive)  ISU (beat up team that was outclassed). . .really they pushed with KSU and TT. . yes, they held both about 6 points under their averages. . nice but hardly fireworks and routed by Baylor. . . .

The debate will be TEXAS/KSU/OU as who fields the best D. . . . 

 

[Matt Cotcher]

The debate will be TEXAS/KSU/OU as who fields the best D. . . . 

Wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Mike Garland]

Wholeheartedly agree.

Me too.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

A "good" OU defense doesn't allow a Case McCoy lead offense flow thru it like s--t thru a goose.

Enough said

 

[primal defense]

Stewart Mandel, doesn't think much of Texas at 24. He's pretty insulting.

10 teams ranked too high or too low in first coaches poll of 2014

The preseason coaches poll is here. And the good news is it’s just for fun.

College football’s Walking Conflict of Interest no longer holds any official bearing on the sport’s national championship race. It used to account for one-third of the BCS standings, but the BCS is no more. The College Football Playoff selection committee will have the final word on who plays for the sport’s newest trophy.

But the AP and coaches polls aren’t going away, and in fact the final No. 1 team in the coaches poll will still receive the iconic crystal football of the past 16 years. More immediately, Thursday’s rankings will likely mirror in large part next month’s AP poll, thus creating the hierarchy by which teams will be judged from the outset -- not to mention the numbers that will appear before their names on the ticker.

History tells us the pollsters will be wrong more than they’ll be right in their preseason guestimates.

Here’s where I think they erred.

TEAMS RANKED TOO HIGH

No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners

Poor, Sooners. The minute they knocked off Alabama in last year’s Sugar Bowl you knew they’d be the designated team that gets propped up way too high to start the next season, thus creating unrealistic expectations. Oklahoma will boast an experienced and athletic defense, but voters are blindly assuming that Trevor Knight and the offense will look more like they did that one night in January than the 12 games before that, ranking 81st nationally in yards per attempt (6.8).

Put it this way: What happened over the offseason that lifted OU seven spots higher than a Baylor team that won the Big 12 last season and beat the Sooners 41-12?

No. 4 Oregon Ducks

When you win at least 11 games for four straight seasons like the Ducks have, you become Teflon to preseason prognosticators. Never mind that Stanford has shut down the Ducks’ offense two years in a row. Never mind that they ended last season by losing 42-16 at Arizona, narrowly escaping Oregon State, 36-35, and scoring one offensive touchdown against Texas. We just assume they’ll be right back in the national title conversation.

Oregon’s offense should be explosive as always with standout quarterback Marcus Mariota and the entire line returning but the defense, now without longtime coordinator Nick Aliotti, is no sure thing.

No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers deserve a certain degree of respect due both to their recent track record (49-17 since 2009) and a seemingly soft schedule outside of their opener against LSU. But coach Gary Andersen’s second team is not exactly bursting with sure things. Star running back Melvin Gordon is one of them, and the offensive line will be solid as always, but Wisconsin returns just three defensive starters and must replace stalwarts like linebacker Chris Borland.

Remember, the Badgers finished last season 21st following season-ending losses to Penn State and South Carolina. It stands to reason they’ll be slightly worse, not better, in 2014.

No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils

The Sun Devils are coming off a breakthrough 10-win season and Pac-12 South championship so you can understand voters giving them a token nod to begin 2014. Taylor Kelly is an underrated quarterback, and he has a strong receiving corps. But ASU returns just two defensive starters and will be relying heavily on freshmen and juco transfers. That doesn’t bode well in a conference filled with veteran quarterbacks and loaded offenses.

The Sun Devils should start 3-0 before beginning a stretch of UCLA, USC, Stanford and Washington. Here’s guessing they won’t still be in the Top 20 then.

No. 24 Texas Longhorns

C’mon.

TEAMS RANKED TOO LOW

No. 5 Auburn Tigers

The analytics crowd is already predicting the Tigers’ demise. All those miracle finishes last year are sure to even out. But that suggests Auburn will have the same margin for error. On the contrary, Gus Malzahn’s offense should be far more lethal this year now that quarterback Nick Marshall had a full offseason in his system.

He has four returning starters up front and an incredibly deep receiving corps. You don’t need miracles if you’re putting up 50 on people. The one strike against the Tigers is their schedule, which includes trips to K-State, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama. I still think they’ll make the playoff.

No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are the classic team that was much better than their 8-5 record last season. Injuries absolutely decimated them. Quarterback Hutson Mason got valuable experience following Aaron Murray’s injury, Todd Gurley may be the nation’s top running back and new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will get the most out of a loaded front seven.

Both SEC and now national voters have pegged South Carolina higher than Georgia in the East. I believe they have it backward.

No. 16 Clemson Tigers

The Tigers have finished 11th and eighth the past two seasons. Voters presumably dropped them a few rungs due to the departure of offensive stars Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins. But look at the other side of the ball. Clemson brings back nearly the entire front seven from a defense that improved from 69th to 23rd nationally last season, most notably All-American defensive end Vic Beasley. And coordinator Chad Morris’ offense will be fine.

Of course, three of the Tigers’ opponents -- Florida State, South Carolina and Georgia -- rank in the Top 12. But they played them all last year and still finished in the Top 10.

NR Missouri Tigers

Considering most preseason polls involve taking last year’s final order and rearranging it a bit, why on earth is one of last year’s Top 5 teams unranked to start the next? Because it’s Missouri, not Texas. The Tigers certainly have their hands full replacing 14 starters, most notably defensive line standouts Michael Sam and Kony Ealy. But quarterback Maty Mauk is hardly a newcomer and last year’s D-line was so deep that the new starters come in experienced.

I’m under no delusion Missouri will win 12 again, but that’s quite the lack of respect to leave it out of the Top 25 altogether. Gary Pinkel probably loves it, though.

NR Duke Blue Devils

UNC’s in there, but the defending Coastal champions are not? Unacceptable.

Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. Before joining FOX Sports, he covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. His new book, “The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the College Football Playoff,†will be released in August. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/top-25-coaches-poll-too-high-low-oklahoma-oregon-auburn-073114

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Stewart Mandel, doesn't think much of Texas at 24. He's pretty insulting.

10 teams ranked too high or too low in first coaches poll of 2014

The preseason coaches poll is here. And the good news is it’s just for fun.

College football’s Walking Conflict of Interest no longer holds any official bearing on the sport’s national championship race. It used to account for one-third of the BCS standings, but the BCS is no more. The College Football Playoff selection committee will have the final word on who plays for the sport’s newest trophy.

But the AP and coaches polls aren’t going away, and in fact the final No. 1 team in the coaches poll will still receive the iconic crystal football of the past 16 years. More immediately, Thursday’s rankings will likely mirror in large part next month’s AP poll, thus creating the hierarchy by which teams will be judged from the outset -- not to mention the numbers that will appear before their names on the ticker.

History tells us the pollsters will be wrong more than they’ll be right in their preseason guestimates.

Here’s where I think they erred.

TEAMS RANKED TOO HIGH

No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners

Poor, Sooners. The minute they knocked off Alabama in last year’s Sugar Bowl you knew they’d be the designated team that gets propped up way too high to start the next season, thus creating unrealistic expectations. Oklahoma will boast an experienced and athletic defense, but voters are blindly assuming that Trevor Knight and the offense will look more like they did that one night in January than the 12 games before that, ranking 81st nationally in yards per attempt (6.8).

Put it this way: What happened over the offseason that lifted OU seven spots higher than a Baylor team that won the Big 12 last season and beat the Sooners 41-12?

No. 4 Oregon Ducks

When you win at least 11 games for four straight seasons like the Ducks have, you become Teflon to preseason prognosticators. Never mind that Stanford has shut down the Ducks’ offense two years in a row. Never mind that they ended last season by losing 42-16 at Arizona, narrowly escaping Oregon State, 36-35, and scoring one offensive touchdown against Texas. We just assume they’ll be right back in the national title conversation.

Oregon’s offense should be explosive as always with standout quarterback Marcus Mariota and the entire line returning but the defense, now without longtime coordinator Nick Aliotti, is no sure thing.

No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers deserve a certain degree of respect due both to their recent track record (49-17 since 2009) and a seemingly soft schedule outside of their opener against LSU. But coach Gary Andersen’s second team is not exactly bursting with sure things. Star running back Melvin Gordon is one of them, and the offensive line will be solid as always, but Wisconsin returns just three defensive starters and must replace stalwarts like linebacker Chris Borland.

Remember, the Badgers finished last season 21st following season-ending losses to Penn State and South Carolina. It stands to reason they’ll be slightly worse, not better, in 2014.

No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils

The Sun Devils are coming off a breakthrough 10-win season and Pac-12 South championship so you can understand voters giving them a token nod to begin 2014. Taylor Kelly is an underrated quarterback, and he has a strong receiving corps. But ASU returns just two defensive starters and will be relying heavily on freshmen and juco transfers. That doesn’t bode well in a conference filled with veteran quarterbacks and loaded offenses.

The Sun Devils should start 3-0 before beginning a stretch of UCLA, USC, Stanford and Washington. Here’s guessing they won’t still be in the Top 20 then.

No. 24 Texas Longhorns

C’mon.

TEAMS RANKED TOO LOW

No. 5 Auburn Tigers

The analytics crowd is already predicting the Tigers’ demise. All those miracle finishes last year are sure to even out. But that suggests Auburn will have the same margin for error. On the contrary, Gus Malzahn’s offense should be far more lethal this year now that quarterback Nick Marshall had a full offseason in his system.

He has four returning starters up front and an incredibly deep receiving corps. You don’t need miracles if you’re putting up 50 on people. The one strike against the Tigers is their schedule, which includes trips to K-State, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama. I still think they’ll make the playoff.

No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are the classic team that was much better than their 8-5 record last season. Injuries absolutely decimated them. Quarterback Hutson Mason got valuable experience following Aaron Murray’s injury, Todd Gurley may be the nation’s top running back and new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will get the most out of a loaded front seven.

Both SEC and now national voters have pegged South Carolina higher than Georgia in the East. I believe they have it backward.

No. 16 Clemson Tigers

The Tigers have finished 11th and eighth the past two seasons. Voters presumably dropped them a few rungs due to the departure of offensive stars Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins. But look at the other side of the ball. Clemson brings back nearly the entire front seven from a defense that improved from 69th to 23rd nationally last season, most notably All-American defensive end Vic Beasley. And coordinator Chad Morris’ offense will be fine.

Of course, three of the Tigers’ opponents -- Florida State, South Carolina and Georgia -- rank in the Top 12. But they played them all last year and still finished in the Top 10.

NR Missouri Tigers

Considering most preseason polls involve taking last year’s final order and rearranging it a bit, why on earth is one of last year’s Top 5 teams unranked to start the next? Because it’s Missouri, not Texas. The Tigers certainly have their hands full replacing 14 starters, most notably defensive line standouts Michael Sam and Kony Ealy. But quarterback Maty Mauk is hardly a newcomer and last year’s D-line was so deep that the new starters come in experienced.

I’m under no delusion Missouri will win 12 again, but that’s quite the lack of respect to leave it out of the Top 25 altogether. Gary Pinkel probably loves it, though.

NR Duke Blue Devils

UNC’s in there, but the defending Coastal champions are not? Unacceptable.

Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. Before joining FOX Sports, he covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. His new book, “The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the College Football Playoff,†will be released in August. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/top-25-coaches-poll-too-high-low-oklahoma-oregon-auburn-073114

Wow! All he has to say is "C'mon"?

That's some poor journalism. At least give us a reason for the opinion.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

OK, read it. . .again. . . .

Largely same D as last year, 1 more year of experience .. . .They still gave up plenty of points late in the season when they were supposedly gelling. ..

Face it, without out 4 turnovers (5th occured too late in the game to matter)  Bama rolls them. . . 

But my question remains largely unanswered .. .very solid D last year but they were not elite. . .many are touting them as one of the best in the nation. . .that is my question. . .what is driving many to think they go from very good to outstanding .. . . and their biggest strength is speed which is negated by running right at them. . . 

SFgirl,

Upon further review USC's D was better than I thought.. . .still. . . not sure I see it .. .USC might regret letting Oregeron go. . . 

And Texas beat them with what was more or less a high school quarterback.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

If we're going to start asking questions about Mizzou, perhaps we should direct them to their own conference which picked Mizzou at the bottom of their division. Who better to ask than the coaches who play them?

Mizzou is going to be awful. Lost a lot to graduation, then had problems that sent even more out the door. It's gonna be tough to be a Tiger fan this year, IMO.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

If we're going to start asking questions about Mizzou, perhaps we should direct them to their own conference which picked Mizzou at the bottom of their division. Who better to ask than the coaches who play them?

Mizzou is going to be awful. Lost a lot to graduation, then had problems that sent even more out the door. It's gonna be tough to be a Tiger fan this year, IMO.

More importantly, why should we even care about Mizzery?

They only beat us once in the Big12 Era.  Screw 'em

 

[drgilbert]

I was reading a scrolling ticker underneath a lottery machine that will post scores and different info on it. Today it said that tamu was voted the most overrated football program. Made me laugh.

 

[HornSports Staff]

If we're going to start asking questions about Mizzou, perhaps we should direct them to their own conference which picked Mizzou at the bottom of their division. Who better to ask than the coaches who play them?

This is an astute observation and an excellent point.

 

[utisdabomb12]

OU is drastically overrated. They won't be a bad team this year but I see 2 or 3 losses. 

1-Not sure why everyone has jumped on this Trevor Knight bandwagon. Knight had one good game last year against Bama. Knight had a 59% completion percentage, 9 touchdowns to 5 turnovers, and an adjusted QBR of 73.1. Knight had one very good game, that's it.

2-OU lost almost everyone at the skilled positions. There's talent there, but the WR/RB group are unproven and lack experience. 

3-I think there's also a misconception about OU's defense being dominant towards the end of the season. They were far from dominant in the Bama game. Bama had two backs that ran for over 100 yards and McCarron threw for nearly 400 yards. The 4 turnovers are what killed Bama. Also, OU's defense was far from dominant in the KSU and Oklahoma State games. 

OU is a trendy pick to make the playoffs, I don't see it. 

 

[streettopeschel]

OU is drastically overrated. They won't be a bad team this year but I see 2 or 3 losses. 

1-Not sure why everyone has jumped on this Trevor Knight bandwagon. Knight had one good game last year against Bama. Knight had a 59% completion percentage, 9 touchdowns to 5 turnovers, and an adjusted QBR of 73.1. Knight had one very good game, that's it.

2-OU lost almost everyone at the skilled positions. There's talent there, but the WR/RB group are unproven and lack experience. 

3-I think there's also a misconception about OU's defense being dominant towards the end of the season. They were far from dominant in the Bama game. Bama had two backs that ran for over 100 yards and McCarron threw for nearly 400 yards. The 4 turnovers are what killed Bama. Also, OU's defense was far from dominant in the KSU and Oklahoma State games. 

OU is a trendy pick to make the playoffs, I don't see it. 

Because he did it against a 'nick saban defense' . look what it did for manziel.