OU No. 1 again - Tulsa World

[oudavid1]

At this rate, it’s going to be a disappointment to OU fans if the Sooners aren’t ranked No. 1 to start the 2011 college football season. And OSU fans are probably going to feel the same kind of disappointment if the Cowboys aren’t in the top 10.

Another projection is out, and the Sooners are No. 1 again. They’re joined in the top 10 by OSU.

This list comes from Phil Steele. He notes this isn’t his top 10 list. That comes out in summer. This is his prediction for how the preseason AP poll will look when it’s released in summer.

I’ve followed Steele for years and always look forward to his preseason magazine. As he notes in his projections (see link below), he’s done very well at this the last two years.

Of OU’s No. 1 ranking, Steele points out a few tough games, including the trip to Florida State. But he concludes his analysis by writing, “With their key returning starters back and a favorable schedule, the Sooners should get the nod as the Preseason AP #1 team!”

Of OSU’s No. 9 ranking, Steele writes that he believes the Cowboys could be ranked even higher, but tough road games might keep pollsters from doing that.

As any TU fan knows by now, the Hurricane’s schedule is stacked. TU faces three of Steele’s projected top 10 – No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 7 Boise State and No. 9 Oklahoma State – in the first four games of the season.

Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=8#10709)

[Boomer Mooner]

I would just as soon OSU be ranked #1 and OU #9 in the preseason. I hate starting the season ranked #1.

[Sabanball]

I would just as soon OSU be ranked #1 and OU #9 in the preseason. I hate starting the season ranked #1.

Better learn to deal with it--OU will be no. 1 in August.:)

[boomermagic]

It ain't where ya start it's where ya finish that counts.. As long as we take care of business we'll be fine.. JUST WIN BABY !!!

[yermom]

meh, we have to worry less about who loses if we start at #1

it does irk me that they talk about schedules with the preseason rankings though.

[oudavid1]

I like being 1 because it adds more weeks ranked #1 to our all-time, recruits notice it, and we will get extra media attention (once again, recruits notice this too).

"A win is a win, a loss is a loss, and a rank is a opinion until January."

[No1Better]

As long as we finish the season ranked number 1, I could care less about all the weeks in between....

[SONofa47straitSOONER]

Ditto to No1Better.

[jumperstop]

This is just a guy writting about Phil Steele's AP prediction. It's not that they are ranked again....it's the same as the other 5 pages thread about this. I don't need some crappy Tulsa World writter telling me about something I learned on here about a week ago....

[MamaMia]

oSu sucks. I hope they lose every game. That would make me laugh.

[batonrougesooner]

How big is the Preseason #1 trophy? Is it shiney?

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

You guys are a bunch of pus$ies. Be glad that OU is starting out at number 1. Why would you idiots want to start out at middle of the pack? It says a lot for OU and how great of a program we are. OU is going to get every teams best shot week in and out. It's not like OU is going to sneak up on someone. We are Goliath and everyone we play except for Texas is David. So stop with the "I don't want to start off at 1" bullshat.

God...

[jumperstop]

You guys are a bunch of pus$ies. Be glad that OU is starting out at number 1. Why would you idiots want to start out at middle of the pack? It says a lot for OU and how great of a program we are. OU is going to get every teams best shot week in and out. It's not like OU is going to sneak up on someone. We are Goliath and everyone we play except for Texas is David. So stop with the "I don't want to start off at 1" bullshat.

God...

I think most people look at the statistics. How many times in the BCS era has a team gone #1 at the begining to #1 at the end....once. Doesn't bode to well for you if you are the preseason #1. It's not "we're pussies", **** I don't play, what am I scared of? Also, when we won the MNC we started out #18th or something like that. It's not just about "having a target", if the players hear they're the best all offseason then they might let it get to their head. So tell me this, Why would you (idiot) want to start out number one?

[AlboSooner]

Being ranked pre-season number one helped Alabama remain in the title hunt up until it gave up a 24 point lead to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, despite already having 2 losses. Pre-season rankings won't get you a trophy, but they aren't as meaningless as some pretend they are.

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

I think most people look at the statistics. How many times in the BCS era has a team gone #1 at the begining to #1 at the end....once. Doesn't bode to well for you if you are the preseason #1. It's not "we're pussies", **** I don't play, what am I scared of? Also, when we won the MNC we started out #18th or something like that. It's not just about "having a target", if the players hear they're the best all offseason then they might let it get to their head. So tell me this, Why would you (idiot) want to start out number one?

Alright, let me put it this way.

Let's say you guys work your asses off for a long time because you know a great opportunity is going to come up at work and you knew you would be great for it. Then you get offered the job and you guys say "well...I don't want to do all the work. I don't want to work hard. Give it to someone else even though I am the best...etc"

That's why it sounds so pathetic from our insanely annoying and insecure fan base when we don't even want to be number 1. It's not just handed out at random. There's not some powerball spinner with all 119 teams in it and they pick a number 1 team. OU deserves it. We have a ton of talent coming back along with outstanding coaching and a schedule that's good enough to get us to the big stage. You guys can hide behind your moms legs all you want but I am embracing OU being a pre season number 1. Let me say this though...I am so glad you guys don't play for OU. I want winners on the team who want to embrace greatness

[SOONER STEAKER]

Not to OU players: Don't take summer jobs at Big Red Cars!!

[jumperstop]

Alright, let me put it this way.

Let's say you guys work your asses off for a long time because you know a great opportunity is going to come up at work and you knew you would be great for it. Then you get offered the job and you guys say "well...I don't want to do all the work. I don't want to work hard. Give it to someone else even though I am the best...etc"

That's why it sounds so pathetic from our insanely annoying and insecure fan base when we don't even want to be number 1. It's not just handed out at random. There's not some powerball spinner with all 119 teams in it and they pick a number 1 team. OU deserves it. We have a ton of talent coming back along with outstanding coaching and a schedule that's good enough to get us to the big stage. You guys can hide behind your moms legs all you want but I am embracing OU being a pre season number 1. Let me say this though...I am so glad you guys don't play for OU. I want winners on the team who want to embrace greatness

This doesn't make sense.

Not saying we aren't deserving, but in college ball very rarely does the preseason #1 end #1. "Hiding behind my moms leg", wtf are you confused...Again, nobody here plays for the team.....It's cool to be number one at the begining and can be helpful, but if you want everyone to be jizzing themselves over it then that's dumb.

[jumperstop]

Being ranked pre-season number one helped Alabama remain in the title hunt up until it gave up a 24 point lead to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, despite already having 2 losses. Pre-season rankings won't get you a trophy, but they aren't as meaningless as some pretend they are.

That is true. But this also helps prove to Boomer Bradley that starting out number 1 doesn't mean ****....If that were true Alabama would have been crowned NC before the start of the season...

[Widescreen]

I think most people look at the statistics. How many times in the BCS era has a team gone #1 at the begining to #1 at the end....once. Doesn't bode to well for you if you are the preseason #1. It's not "we're pussies", **** I don't play, what am I scared of? Also, when we won the MNC we started out #18th or something like that. It's not just about "having a target", if the players hear they're the best all offseason then they might let it get to their head. So tell me this, Why would you (idiot) want to start out number one?

The way I look at it is that if the #1 ranking causes a team problems, they're probably not mentally tough enough to win an MNC. And the fact of the matter is that it's more likely than not that we won't win the MNC this year because winning one is pretty difficult and requires some luck. So whether we start the year #1 or #5, it's going to be equally difficult to win it all.

I like our chances better than anyone else this fall regardless of where we start ranked (as long as it's in the top 6-7).

[MamaMia]

I use to not like being No.1 early on, because it put a target on our back. When we were playing with injured red shirts, a new red shirt freshman QB and understandingly losing a game here and there to really strong healthy teams with very experienced players, OU haters were totally celebrating like nuts over any loss we had. We are the team so many people love to hate. I realized that we already have a target on our back no matter what.

[JLEW1818]

It's important to start off ranked high, especially since we don't have a conference championship game. We don't want to get screwed.

A solid win at FSU can end things early. We could then just win out, and get in.

This is the biggest Bedlam game in some time. No conference championship after.

Kill everybody

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

That is true. But this also helps prove to Boomer Bradley that starting out number 1 doesn't mean ****....If that were true Alabama would have been crowned NC before the start of the season...

Starting out number one does indeed mean ****. it's a whole truckload of ****. It should give a team a lot of confidence heading into the season. If they can't handle it then too damn bad. Maybe someone else will handle it better which should, in theory, make the team who lost the spot want it back. Again, just because a team is preseason number 1 doesn't mean they don't have to work hard. I'm sure the coaches and players know that

[jumperstop]

The way I look at it is that if the #1 ranking causes a team problems, they're probably not mentally tough enough to win an MNC. And the fact of the matter is that it's more likely than not that we won't win the MNC this year because winning one is pretty difficult and requires some luck. So whether we start the year #1 or #5, it's going to be equally difficult to win it all.

I like our chances better than anyone else this fall regardless of where we start ranked (as long as it's in the top 6-7).

Thanks for an intellegent rebuttal, this acctually made sense.

You say that if we are tough enough to handle the #1 ranking then they aren't tough enough to win a MNC. I think we are good enough, it's just people like Travis Lewis with his mulitple quotes this year about the team being over confident don't make me feel like this team is humble/smart enough to not buy into the hype. These guys are 20 year olds, they read their own clippings, I'd put money on it. And as we can tell by Alabama, they talk about you A LOT more if you are preseason number one. The media want you to do well so they make sure that you end up the victor before the game even happens. Point being that I believe our team has traditionally played better when there are doubters (2001 OB) than when they're aren't (2004 OB,2006 FB, 2007 FB, there are a lot more).

[Boomer Mooner]

Well put. I never said I was afraid of being ranked number 1 preseason, I just don't prefer it. We always play better with a chip on our shoulder and if we play the whole season at number one it seems we seem to get a little lazy just when it counts, like 2003 when we let Kansas State beat us in the Big 12 championship after an unbeaten season, or when we got our *** handed to us by Colorado in 07.

[pardon the interREDtion]

Starting out #1 will also keep us from having to pass as many teams on the way back up if we were to lose a game.

[ouwasp]

over the years, OU generally gets the opponents best shots, imo. Shoot, you still hear the radio guys talking about TU beating OU back in the day with Wes Caswell's 99 yd pass... and that OU team SUCKED.

It's all about the brand. I say the Sooners take the big bold Number One and thrash the adversaries. That would be to my liking. Hmmm...hadn't thought about it that way....

How 'bout this as a goal: The most boring run to the MNC ever. No close games, no drama... nothing for the sportswriters to whine about... just solid a** kickings, week in and week out...

[sendbaht]

Ou is No. 1 in my heart so being No. 1 on paper is ok too.:)

[yermom]

How 'bout this as a goal: The most boring run to the MNC ever. No close games, no drama... nothing for the sportswriters to whine about... just solid a** kickings, week in and week out...

now you're talking :D

[Always_Sooner]

Let's be the first team to start #1 since 2004 and 1999 to win out starting at #1. (USC and Florida State respectively)

[MyT Oklahoma]

I like being 1 because it adds more weeks ranked #1 to our all-time, recruits notice it, and we will get extra media attention (once again, recruits notice this too).

"A win is a win, a loss is a loss, and a rank is a opinion until January."

^^ This. I too like adding to our record of weeks being ranked Number One and it is what it is (being ranked Numero Uno like it or not).

[tennsooner]

As long as we finish the season ranked number 1, I could care less about all the weeks in between....

just wait till you COULDN'T care less.........then you will be there.