kghoya
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Post by kghoya on Aug 7, 2009 10:37:05 GMT -5
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 7, 2009 11:15:17 GMT -5
Aww, come on ... they had the "best offense" in the history of college football last season ... and they return a lot of key elements in Bradford, Graham and Murray ... Of course, they do have to retool their offensive line ... not to mention the fact that they scored a whopping 14 points against us in the Title game. On the other hand, we do return the entire first and second team defense from last year. Incidentally, we finished 2nd in scoring defense, while playing the 4th toughest schedule.
Oh, and by the way, Dorian Monroe, who was one of our starting safeties before being lost for the year in preseason practices, as well as Brendon Beal, Omar Hunter and Dee Finley, who were penciled in as second teamers, also return. Yep ... that's right ... we return 26 people jockeying for the first and second team defensive positions and that doesn't even count any of our heralded freshmen class.
Is it Sept. 5th yet?
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 7, 2009 11:46:59 GMT -5
I see Rich Rodriguez voted for Michigan. Nice.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 7, 2009 12:27:35 GMT -5
I wonder if Duke got their customary first place vote. Spurrier has made it public that he votes Duke at #1 every year, because before any games have been played, you can't really rule anything out ... and besides that, he won't have the opportunity later in the year.
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vcjack
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Post by vcjack on Aug 7, 2009 12:32:20 GMT -5
Except for miss that top 10 is basically identical to every other top ten this half decade.
Also, if these coaches/SIDs know their stuff, the big east is going to be loads of suck this year
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HoyaFanNY
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Post by HoyaFanNY on Aug 7, 2009 13:30:23 GMT -5
with florida's schedule, i think their 2nd team could win 9 games.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 7, 2009 14:00:29 GMT -5
with florida's schedule, i think their 2nd team could win 9 games. I can't argue with that a bit. At least on paper, we seem to be catching a break. But you really can't put much stock in that. IN the '96 and '06 seasons, we also benefitted from the rotation, but that only half the story. On Edit: that didn't come out right at all. What I meant to say was that "on paper" the schedule didn't look good for Florida in '96 or '06, yet we still won the Natty Tite. But with this year's schedule, we really look poised to run the table to the Title game. |
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whatmaroon
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Post by whatmaroon on Aug 7, 2009 14:21:03 GMT -5
Duke didn't get its 1 point from Spurrier this year-the poll organizers went to him last year or the year before and said they'd kick him out if he didn't stop doing that.
And, while I'd have still have UF #1 and UT ahead of them, let's not pretend the BCS CG was UF-FSU or NU-UF. Oklahoma was missing their best running back in Murray and could easily have scored 24 or more points with better luck, and has an excellent returning core outside the major exception of having to replace 4 starting OL.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 7, 2009 15:03:55 GMT -5
Duke didn't get its 1 point from Spurrier this year-the poll organizers went to him last year or the year before and said they'd kick him out if he didn't stop doing that. And, while I'd have still have UF #1 and UT ahead of them, let's not pretend the BCS CG was UF-FSU or NU-UF. Oklahoma was missing their best running back in Murray and could easily have scored 24 or more points with better luck, and has an excellent returning core outside the major exception of having to replace 4 starting OL. NO ONE is going to score on us. No, I don't mean that literally, but in all seriousness, I have been on record for some time now in saying that I think we are looking at "single digits" in scoring defense. I honestly think that we won't give up more than 10 points per game on average. Our defense is just sick. And of course, one added benefit is that you can sort of innoculate yourself from damaging injuries. You don't ever want injuries, but they are a part of the game. In our case, we are in good shape either way. |
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Aug 7, 2009 21:18:17 GMT -5
Penn State over Florida in a Testaverdian upset. Book it.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 8, 2009 11:41:07 GMT -5
GiGa, that's not out of the realm of possibility, although I honestly think that, barring injuries of Titanic proportion, Florida will win the Title game if they get there. There is too much veteran leadership and guys who have "been there," for the team to not come in with the right attitude and mentality, should they make the Title game. I could see a quality team, like LSU or Georgia pulling off an upset along the way. And I'm not confident that a 12-1 record will necessarily make the title game. So I'm certainly not considering it a "done deal" in any stretch. But IF we make the title game, then I don't see much chance of the Gators not hoisting the Crystal once again.
On a different note, I heard one of the National guys talking about the coaches poll this morning on the way to work. Now we all know that the preseason polls are not especially accurate, but I was a bit surprised by some of his analysis. He looked at last year's coaches' preseason poll:
Utah was unranked ... they finished 13-0 and #2
Boise St. was unranked, and finished 12-1 and #8
Alabama was unranked and finished 12-2 and was #1 for much of the year
Georgia was ranked #1 and finished well short of that mark
Az St was ranked around 13 and finished 5-7
Tennessee was ranked, but finished 5-7 and fired their coach.
Michigan was ranked and finished 3-9
Washington wasn't ranked, but they did receive some votes. Of course, they didn't win a friggin' game all year.
There were others, that I can't remember. I'm kind of interested if that was a "typical" preseason list, or if maybe expectations were slightly off more than usual last season.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Aug 10, 2009 11:23:12 GMT -5
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet that there are no Big East programs in this Top 25. (Cincinnati, Pitt, WVU and Rutgers are "#29-32" in votes received.) Three Mountain West teams are represented. Score one for Orrin Hatch.
There are also more than a few teams whose ranking is inflated by program reputation. LSU (3-5 in conference last season) in the Top 10?
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Aug 10, 2009 12:28:06 GMT -5
Washington was just plan rank last year, but losing Jake Locker early certainly didn't help them.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Aug 10, 2009 13:37:58 GMT -5
GiGa, that's not out of the realm of possibility, although I honestly think that, barring injuries of Titanic proportion, Florida will win the Title game if they get there. There is too much veteran leadership and guys who have "been there," for the team to not come in with the right attitude and mentality, should they make the Title game. I could see a quality team, like LSU or Georgia pulling off an upset along the way. And I'm not confident that a 12-1 record will necessarily make the title game. So I'm certainly not considering it a "done deal" in any stretch. But IF we make the title game, then I don't see much chance of the Gators not hoisting the Crystal once again. On a different note, I heard one of the National guys talking about the coaches poll this morning on the way to work. Now we all know that the preseason polls are not especially accurate, but I was a bit surprised by some of his analysis. He looked at last year's coaches' preseason poll: Utah was unranked ... they finished 13-0 and #2 Boise St. was unranked, and finished 12-1 and #8 Alabama was unranked and finished 12-2 and was #1 for much of the year Georgia was ranked #1 and finished well short of that mark Az St was ranked around 13 and finished 5-7 Tennessee was ranked, but finished 5-7 and fired their coach. Michigan was ranked and finished 3-9 Washington wasn't ranked, but they did receive some votes. Of course, they didn't win a friggin' game all year. There were others, that I can't remember. I'm kind of interested if that was a "typical" preseason list, or if maybe expectations were slightly off more than usual last season. Yawn. Always happens. College football is notoriously bad for this, since teams have fewer games and it's harder to separate themselves from the pack, so even a bad season doesn't look that bad for teams, and a team that finished 3-9 in some close games last season may get some breaks and end up 7-5 (fewer college basketball teams could argue that 7-21 was just "bad breaks"). The worst offender is Notre Dame, who almost always is in the preseason Top 25, and who almost always disappoints. |
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kghoya
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Post by kghoya on Aug 10, 2009 16:01:29 GMT -5
The worst offender is Notre Dame, who almost always is in the preseason Top 25, and who almost always disappoints. In the last 8 pre-season polls, they have only been ranked in 3 of them. C'mon that's not ALWAYS! |
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vcjack
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Post by vcjack on Aug 11, 2009 11:03:55 GMT -5
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet that there are no Big East programs in this Top 25. (Cincinnati, Pitt, WVU and Rutgers are "#29-32" in votes received.) Three Mountain West teams are represented. Score one for Orrin Hatch. There are also more than a few teams whose ranking is inflated by program reputation. LSU (3-5 in conference last season) in the Top 10? I alluded to their suckiness above, it surprised me but then I remembered that Cincinnati and Pitt were the only decent teams last year and I think they lost a lot. But I don't really give two s about Big East football. All I have to add is that the Big Ten teams seem correctly placed (with maybe PSU being too high and Michigan getting a vote is laughable) |
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 11, 2009 12:29:02 GMT -5
Incidentally, I forgot to mention Cincy last season. They too were unranked going in, but eventually won the BE.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Aug 11, 2009 12:31:12 GMT -5
Aww, come on ... they had the "best offense" in the history of college football last season ... and they return a lot of key elements in Bradford, Graham and Murray ... Of course, they do have to retool their offensive line ... not to mention the fact that they scored a whopping 14 points against us in the Title game. On the other hand, we do return the entire first and second team defense from last year. Incidentally, we finished 2nd in scoring defense, while playing the 4th toughest schedule. Oh, and by the way, Dorian Monroe, who was one of our starting safeties before being lost for the year in preseason practices, as well as Brendon Beal, Omar Hunter and Dee Finley, who were penciled in as second teamers, also return. Yep ... that's right ... we return 26 people jockeying for the first and second team defensive positions and that doesn't even count any of our heralded freshmen class. Is it Sept. 5th yet? Incidentally, I forgot to mention a cornerback. I forget his exact name, but it's Moses something. The point is that he was the starter ahead of Jenoris Jenkins last season before being lost to injury. Our defense is going to be sick ... just sick this year! |
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Aug 11, 2009 20:40:39 GMT -5
Not as sick as you are making us with your incessant Florida posts.  |
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