USA Today Coaches Poll out

[BermudaSooner]

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/football/polls/coaches-poll/

OU at #19

TCU #2
Baylor #4
Tennessee #25

[Curly Bill]

Damn world is upside down! Not just politically and socially, but TCU & Baylor are in the top 5 and there's OU at #19!!! (and I'm not sure they deserve that)

[KantoSooner]

early season polls are inevitable. As far as an 'educated guess' goes, this one is probably okay.
I wonder how accurate these pre-season polls are in predicting who'll finish in the top ten or top twenty? Such a little bit of luck separates one team from those one slot above or below, for example.

[Curly Bill]

On the plus side: I'm going into this season with ZERO expectations, so if it ends up being a pretty good one or better, I'll be pleasantly pleased.

And I think that's largely dependent on Baker Mayfield and how he plays.

[BermudaSooner]

On the plus side: I'm going into this season with ZERO expectations, so if it ends up being a pretty good one or better, I'll be pleasantly pleased.

And I think that's largely dependent on Baker Mayfield and how he plays.

What would a "pretty good one" be? 11-2 with a loss to Texas? 10-3, but beat Texas?

[badger]

For those that don't want to click on the link...


1 Ohio State 14-1 1598 62 NR 0 –
2 TCU 12-1 1487 1 NR 0 –
3 Alabama 12-2 1452 1 NR 0 –
4 Baylor 11-2 1365 0 NR 0 –
5 Oregon 13-2 1260 0 NR 0 –
6 Michigan State 11-2 1230 0 NR 0 –
7 Auburn 8-5 1103 0 NR 0 –
8 Florida State 13-1 1057 0 NR 0 –
9 Georgia 10-3 1026 0 NR 0 –
10 USC 9-4 1014 0 NR 0 –
11 Notre Dame 8-5 883 0 NR 0 –
12 Clemson 10-3 838 0 NR 0 –
13 LSU 8-5 727 0 NR 0 –
14 UCLA 10-3 697 0 NR 0 –
15 Ole Miss 9-4 668 0 NR 0 –
16 Arizona State 10-3 577 0 NR 0 –
17 Georgia Tech 11-3 573 0 NR 0 –
18 Wisconsin 11-3 470 0 NR 0 –
19 Oklahoma 8-5 407 0 NR 0 –
20 Arkansas 7-6 377 0 NR 0 –
21 Stanford 8-5 365 0 NR 0 –
22 Arizona 10-4 299 0 NR 0 –
23 Missouri 11-3 229 0 NR 0 –
24 Boise State 12-2 190 0 NR 0 –
25 Tennessee 7-6 166 0 NR 0 –
*Hi/Low Rankings

Hi/Low = The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a "NR" (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
Others Receiving Votes

Mississippi State 164; Texas A&M 149; Oklahoma State 89; Virginia Tech 70; Utah 40; Kansas State 37; Louisville 27; Nebraska 27; Minnesota 25; Penn State 20; South Carolina 18; Miami (Fla.) 16; Texas 8; Illinois 7; Duke 6; Air Force 5; Louisiana Tech 5; Marshall 4; Utah State 4; West Virginia 3; North Carolina State 3; Brigham Young 3; Florida 2; Georgia Southern 2; North Carolina 2; Maryland 1; Michigan 1; Kentucky 1; Central Florida 1; Cincinnati 1; Washington 1.

That's 8 of the 14 SEC teams in the top 25, another two just on the outside looking in... and then Kentucky getting a pity vote and Vanderbilt getting no pity whatsoever because nerds don't belong in the SEC. Spurrier has a few votes and Florida gets none too, not for nerdy but for Tebow hangover I guess?

This sets up the usual narrative for the regular season: The daunting conference schedule will justify the non-conference cream puffs scheduled to start the season (and provide a midseason break during the rough and tough conference). The defeat of top 25 conference opponents will justify placing them even higher in the polls, but also excuse losses to fellow top 25 opponent with lesser drops in the polls after conference defeats, even if they're blowouts at home.

In conclusion, all four college football playoff teams should be from the SEC because the other conference's just don't have the strength of schedule. :rolleyes:

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

If we lose no more than 3, I will think maybe we are mending. Otherwise, we're Gary Gibbs teams. or Gomer Jones.

[badger]

Gary and Gomer were before my time... I arrived in 2001, so the worst I heard about was Blake :D

[Curly Bill]

What would a "pretty good one" be? 11-2 with a loss to Texas? 10-3, but beat Texas?

Sorta depends on various factors like who we lose to & in what manner, how we play regardless of result, do we appear to be on the upswing or downswing as a program...

But if we don't win at least 10 games I'd have a hard time saying things were "pretty good" regardless of any of those things.

[swardboy]

I wonder how accurate these pre-season polls are in predicting who'll finish in the top ten or top twenty?

Here's Preseason/End of Year 2014 results:

USA TODAY Preseason/ Composite Final

1. Florida State.......................Ohio State
2. Alabama ............................Oregon
3. Oregon .............................Alabama
4. Oklahoma .........................TCU
5. Ohio State.........................Michigan State
6. Auburn..............................Florida State
7. UCLA..............................Georgia
8. Michigan State..................Georgia State
9. South Carolina...................Baylor
10. Baylor.............................UCLA

Three poll picks didn't finish top ten.
Five finishers weren't in the preseason poll.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Gary and Gomer were before my time... I arrived in 2001, so the worst I heard about was Blake :DIf it's comforting to you, know that Blake was worse than either Gary or Gomer.

John was the worst coach we've had in my lifetime...or Schnellenbourbon.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Probably about right. With crappy QBs, small school defense, and Texas Tech offense, I expect very Texas Tech-like results: 7 to 9 wins and another crappy bowl.

[Eielson]

I heard TDTW is gay for Mike Leach.

[SicEmBaylor]

Damn world is upside down! Not just politically and socially, but TCU & Baylor are in the top 5 and there's OU at #19!!! (and I'm not sure they deserve that)

Nobody deserves any pre-season ranking. Pre-season rankings are beyond meaningless and idiotic.

[badger]

I used to follow Mike Leach when he initially went to Wazzu, but that last season leads me to believe Leach's best coaching is behind him. He got them turned around in season 2 up there, but season 3 was as abysmal as season 1.

[Tear Down This Wall]

I used to follow Mike Leach when he initially went to Wazzu, but that last season leads me to believe Leach's best coaching is behind him. He got them turned around in season 2 up there, but season 3 was as abysmal as season 1.

He's a joke. His whole career is nothing but a bit that's been played out long ago. His master, Hal Mumme, eventually ended up back at Division II/III/NAIA. It's where he belongs as well. He might do fine at a significantly crappy outpost like North Texas or Louisiana Tech or some other school in a conference whose schools don't get the best athletes.

This is where the interview I heard recently with Joel Klatt about whether the Leach/Chip Kelly-type of offenses would be successful. He said no. And, they only reason they work in high school and college so well is that you still have the propensity for athletic mismatches.

Wazzu isn't going to out-athlete many, if any, school in Pac-12. None. Leach might be able to scrape up enough talented piece in a crappy conference to give a crappy school a year or two of "excitement."

But, otherwise, he's a joke.

[badger]

Look, I, too, am upset that he upset OU at times when I wish Tech didn't, but he was really successful by Texas Tech standards during his decade or so there and I wish him nothing but the best wherever he goes... and if he pizzes off the Pac 12 powers like he once did to the Big 12 powers (read: us), awesome. He is far, far away and will never out-offense us again

[picasso]

He's a joke. His whole career is nothing but a bit that's been played out long ago. His master, Hal Mumme, eventually ended up back at Division II/III/NAIA. It's where he belongs as well. He might do fine at a significantly crappy outpost like North Texas or Louisiana Tech or some other school in a conference whose schools don't get the best athletes.

This is where the interview I heard recently with Joel Klatt about whether the Leach/Chip Kelly-type of offenses would be successful. He said no. And, they only reason they work in high school and college so well is that you still have the propensity for athletic mismatches.

Wazzu isn't going to out-athlete many, if any, school in Pac-12. None. Leach might be able to scrape up enough talented piece in a crappy conference to give a crappy school a year or two of "excitement."

But, otherwise, he's a joke.
He's such a joke that he blazed an offensive trail through the Big 12.

I don't care what you and Patsy Jones say, he had Texas Tech one win away from playing to get into the BCS championship. No joke.

[Soonerjeepman]

On the plus side: I'm going into this season with ZERO expectations, so if it ends up being a pretty good one or better, I'll be pleasantly pleased.

And I think that's largely dependent on Baker Mayfield and how he plays.

yup

[SicEmBaylor]

He's such a joke that he blazed an offensive trail through the Big 12.

I don't care what you and Patsy Jones say, he had Texas Tech one win away from playing to get into the BCS championship. No joke.

He not only altered the way the game is played in the Big XII, the ripple effects are still moving through college football. It's even having an impact on the SEC.

Leach is an excellent coach. The problem with Leach is that he didn't innovate beyond what he knows. Briles, for example, has a completely different offense but has always said that he has to continually change it in order to remain 'fresh' because the moment you become predictable is the moment you start losing. That's Leach's problem. It's the same offense that has been done since the early 2000s.

[soonergirlNeugene]

I think Leach at Wazzu is a demonstration of the difference between coaching at a bottom-feeder school in a recruiting hotbed vs coaching at a bottom-feeder school in BFE.

[Tear Down This Wall]

He's such a joke that he blazed an offensive trail through the Big 12.

I don't care what you and Patsy Jones say, he had Texas Tech one win away from playing to get into the BCS championship. No joke.

And, the Wazzu fans get to be the punchline.

[Tear Down This Wall]

I think Leach at Wazzu is a demonstration of the difference between coaching at a bottom-feeder school in a recruiting hotbed vs coaching at a bottom-feeder school in BFE.

Although, with Leach, the result is the same - zero championships at both.

It would be interesting to make a list of coaches will the longest streak of coaching without winning a conference title. Leach is currently at 13.

People point to one single season, 2008, where Tech went 11-2. Still, the only season a Leach-coached team ever won more than nine games.

That season was a joke as well. Tech, at 11-1, goes to the Cotton Bowl to play Ole Miss, who had been 8-4 in their regular season. Result: Ole Miss pounded Tech 47-34.

Stupid. Leach's one "Golden Season" - the "he almost won a championship" year - he gets donkeyf*cked in a half-as*s bowl game by a school that didn't come close to winning its conference.

That's Leach to the core, friends and neighbors.

[badger]

Speaking of Mikey, he still likes to ruffle feathers...

“I don’t know why you don’t have 64 teams,” he said. “... The notion of pinpointing and selecting four perfectly, well that’s not going to happen. That can’t happen effectively.”[
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/88823/mike-leach-advocates-for-64-team-playoff

[picasso]

And, the Wazzu fans get to be the punchline.

They should be used to it.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

And, the Wazzu fans get to be the punchline.as hard as it is to recruit to Lubbock, Pullman is even worse.

[BoulderSooner79]

A bit off topic, but I just can't criticize that '08 TT. They knocked off the horns in the most dramatic fashion I've ever seen which created the 3 way tie that saved OUr bacon. Then they were losing the last game of the season against Baylor with Crabtree out with a sprained ankle and Harrell playing with broken bones in his hand. They made another great comeback to save us again or the horns go to the CCG and eventually the BCS (they would have pounded Mizzou too). They did get roughed up by Ole Miss, but I watched that game and Crabtree was still hobbled and not effective and Harrell wasn't healed either, but played a courageous game. Can't say they would have won with a healthy Crabtree, but it would have been even more of a shootout and closer.

Had OUr guys won the BCS trophy that year, we would have owed TT a huge thanks or we never would have gotten there. If only...

[SicEmBaylor]

A bit off topic, but I just can't criticize that '08 TT. They knocked off the horns in the most dramatic fashion I've ever seen which created the 3 way tie that saved OUr bacon. Then they were losing the last game of the season against Baylor with Crabtree out with a sprained ankle and Harrell playing with broken bones in his hand. They made another great comeback to save us again or the horns go to the CCG and eventually the BCS (they would have pounded Mizzou too). They did get roughed up by Ole Miss, but I watched that game and Crabtree was still hobbled and not effective and Harrell wasn't healed either, but played a courageous game. Can't say they would have won with a healthy Crabtree, but it would have been even more of a shootout and closer.

Had OUr guys won the BCS trophy that year, we would have owed TT a huge thanks or we never would have gotten there. If only...

lol, they did have a tremendous comeback against us to win that game but Leach bitched them the hell out in the locker room afterward!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

PHKC BAYLOR!

[Mazeppa]

5 most overrated teams in the poll

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25255817/friday-five-most-overrated-teams-in-the-2015-preseason-coaches-poll

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Wheedogies, we are honorable mention for most overrated!

[Mazeppa]

Wheedogies, we are honorable mention for most overrated!

I totally missed that, Ha

[BoulderSooner79]

If we're going to make a list, I want to be at the top. I did notice a question in the article


Remember 2012 when the Trojans began the year ranked No. 1 and finished the season not ranked at all? That was fun, wasn't it?

Yes I do. Yes it was.