OU Preseason #1

[freshchris05]

Per Sporting News Mag


http://thefootballbrainiacs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sporting.jpg


Preseason ranking are worthless but we have two threads on Jameis Winston so I figured we needed some OU news on this OU forum...

[Wishboned]

We're so screwed.

Game over man. Game over.

[swardboy]

I love it, I hate it, I love it, I hate it, I love it, I hate it.....

[Eielson]

SportingNews still exists?

[Mazeppa]

SportingNews still exists?

Photoshop?

[Mazeppa]

Just kidding.

[picasso]

We're so screwed.

Game over man. Game over.

It ain't SI.

[odontia]

The most amazing part is that it is not until #4 that you find an SEC team

[dwarthog]

BOOOOMMMERRRR!!!!!!!!!!! crap......

[badger]

The most amazing part is that it is not until #4 that you find an SEC team

They still managed to fit three SECs in the top 10. Three Pac 12's too. Poor B1G. So irrelevant

[sendbaht]

this year this will be a good sign...boomer sooner!

[rock on sooner]

If Winston doesn't get his head on straight and Fisher has any brass,
Free Shoes won't be #3....

[hawaii 5-0]

I liked last year's team's ability to succeed in the face of adversity, after losing Nelson and then Millard.

Take good players, coach 'em up. Makes for a great team.

Still, I'd rather see us start in the lower half of the Top 10.


5-0

[PrideMom]

Number 1 ratings in May doesn't mean anything. There is no trophy attached to it.

[rock on sooner]

Number 1 ratings in May doesn't mean anything. There is no trophy attached to it.

That's very true, except if you're preseason #1 at the start of the season
and don't lose then it is easier to finish #1 and have a shot at the crystal
trophy.....at least that's what Cap'n Obvious sez...

[Since71ASooner4Life]

Number 1 ratings in May doesn't mean anything. There is no trophy attached to it.

The best part I take from this is that at least one reputable source (not us knuckleheads on this message board) also has the viewpoint that we have returned to the conversation of the elite teams. It's a good feeling that some of our humiliating blowout losses in recent years are getting further in the rear view mirror.

[swardboy]

And the Alabama win fast-forwarded us to a high ranking. Like Rock on Sooner said, it makes it easier to be in the play-off.

[picasso]

In reading the facebook comments about this, some fans need to loghten up.
It's hard to go wire to wire at #1 but it's just plain difficult to go undefeated anyway.
Why not enjoy it?

[Eielson]

It may be difficult to end #1 if you start #1, but I don't think being unranked would do us any favors, either.

[BoulderSooner79]

I don't think it matters where a team starts in the ratings. That belief that teams don't get passed as long as they are winning has had many exceptions. In the BCS era, the starting BCS rankings often differed from the various polls when it first was published in mid-October. With the new "committee", who knows. The only reason an unranked team has never finished #1 is because there is too much information out there for a team to fly that far under the radar. But teams have certainly started in the 2nd 10 and won it all, including last year. Bottom line is that it's really hard to win it all and pre-season belief doesn't change that.

[Eielson]

I don't think it matters where a team starts in the ratings. That belief that teams don't get passed as long as they are winning has had many exceptions. In the BCS era, the starting BCS rankings often differed from the various polls when it first was published in mid-October. With the new "committee", who knows. The only reason an unranked team has never finished #1 is because there is too much information out there for a team to fly that far under the radar. But teams have certainly started in the 2nd 10 and won it all, including last year. Bottom line is that it's really hard to win it all and pre-season belief doesn't change that.

Didn't Auburn or somebody win it while starting the season unranked?

It shouldn't really matter, though. With our Sugar Bowl performance, if we win the Big XII with 1 or less losses, we're guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

[BoulderSooner79]

Didn't Auburn or somebody win it while starting the season unranked?

It shouldn't really matter, though. With our Sugar Bowl performance, if we win the Big XII with 1 or less losses, we're guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

I thought that Auburn team that beat the Ducks was ranked, but there are many polls, so perhaps it was unranked in some of them.

Hard to use the word "guaranteed" because weird things can always happen, but very high probably OU gets a spot under those conditions. But I would say that even if OU lost last year's bowl game. But even with the new systems, there will be only one left standing, so it's still just as hard to win it all.

[Eielson]

I thought that Auburn team that beat the Ducks was ranked, but there are many polls, so perhaps it was unranked in some of them.

Hard to use the word "guaranteed" because weird things can always happen, but very high probably OU gets a spot under those conditions. But I would say that even if OU lost last year's bowl game. But even with the new systems, there will be only one left standing, so it's still just as hard to win it all.

I did some googling, and you're correct about Auburn. They were 20-something. I guess a couple teams did in the early 80's, but nobody has since BYU did it in '84. Auburn would have been the first had they won against FSU. Just some fun facts.

[BoulderSooner79]

I did some googling, and you're correct about Auburn. They were 20-something. I guess a couple teams did in the early 80's, but nobody has since BYU did it in '84. Auburn would have been the first had they won against FSU. Just some fun facts.

I was just commenting on BCS era. Prior to the BCS, the initial poll position could indeed factor into the final ranking since the ranking was the polls themselves. Combine that with the fact that the top teams usually didn't play each other in the bowls and it was understandable why fans got so caught up in the politics of early polls. It would often come down to which favored team beat their underdog with the most style points. The final BCS ranking has rarely been affected by early polls at all, but fans still seem to get their panties all knotted anyway; just habit I guess.