T1B

I'm glad Iowa isn't ranked highly this year. That pretty much assures a 9-11 win season - especially with the schedule.

There are 3 guarantees in life...

Death
Taxes
and Kirk Ferentz teams choking under pressure, while winning when no one expects it.

Of the last 6 times a Ferentz team was not ranked in the Top 15 in the preseason, they ended up 11-2, 10-3, 10-2, 6-6, 9-4, and 11-2. All with much more difficult schedules than this year.

The offensive line, running back, and linebacking corps is too solid for this team to NOT win at least 9 games. And there are other quality players mixed around. It really just comes down to Vandenberg. If he's anything like he was at Ohio State 2 years ago, this will be a heck of an offense. He's got a big arm and he's definitely pro material if he can show some consistency. Of course, that's the big question - can he be consistent? We don't know.

Papa Willie wrote:

Jsc810 wrote:Teams on that poll that play LSU this year:

#3 Oregon
#20 Mississippi St.
#27 West Virginia
#23 Florida
#41 Tennessee
#19 Auburn
#2 Alabama
#14 Arkansas

But the SEC teams never play anybody!

And like clockwork - OU is right where they always start out.

The last time Oklahoma started ranked #1 was 2003.

If you're trying to imply that Oklahoma always starts out ranked higher than they finish then you are, from a year to year basis, incorrect. Oklahoma has finished at the same spot or higher in the final AP poll nine times since Stoops became coach.

In 1999 Oklahoma started unranked and finished 24th.
In 2000 Oklahoma started 18th and won the national title.
In 2002 Oklahoma started the season 5th and finished in 5th.
In 2004 Oklahoma started the season 3rd and finished in 3rd.
In 2006 Oklahoma started the season 14th and finished in 11th.
In 2007 Oklahoma started the season 10th and finished 8th
In 2008 Oklahoma started the season 9th and finished 5th.
In 2010 Oklahoma started the season 8th and finished 6th.

That's nine out of thirteen seasons under Stoops.
And to put things in perspective:
In 2001 Oklahoma started the season ranked 3rd and finished 5th.
in 2003 Oklahoma started out ranked #1 and finished third after losing the national title game by a single touchdown.
2005 Was the Rhett Bomar disaster and 2008 was the injury riddle season where Oklahoma lost three future first round selections before the season even began and finished the season with two walk on offensive linemen and a win against Stanford.

Overall Oklahoma meets or exceeds expectations most seasons under Stoops. But I wouldn't expect SECBSH to understand that . . . especially one's whose team is only ranked based on Conference prestige this preseason. Will Allbarn even get Bowl eligible is a better question than should they be ranked.

UNWAR preseason polls affecting the final BCS totals

SunCoastSooner wrote: In 1999 Oklahoma started unranked and finished 24th.
In 2000 Oklahoma started 18th and won the national title.
In 2002 Oklahoma started the season 5th and finished in 5th.
In 2004 Oklahoma started the season 3rd and finished in 3rd.
In 2006 Oklahoma started the season 14th and finished in 11th.
In 2007 Oklahoma started the season 10th and finished 8th
In 2008 Oklahoma started the season 9th and finished 5th.
In 2010 Oklahoma started the season 8th and finished 6th.

In 1984, Falco writes "Rock Me Amadeus"

I'm probably not the only one on here who prefer this but I don't think any polls should come out before week 5 or 6.

TheJON wrote:I'm glad Iowa isn't ranked highly this year. That pretty much assures a 9-11 win season - especially with the schedule.

There are 3 guarantees in life...

Death
Taxes
and Kirk Ferentz teams choking under pressure, while winning when no one expects it.

Of the last 6 times a Ferentz team was not ranked in the Top 15 in the preseason, they ended up 11-2, 10-3, 10-2, 6-6, 9-4, and 11-2. All with much more difficult schedules than this year.

The offensive line, running back, and linebacking corps is too solid for this team to NOT win at least 9 games. And there are other quality players mixed around. It really just comes down to Vandenberg. If he's anything like he was at Ohio State 2 years ago, this will be a heck of an offense. He's got a big arm and he's definitely pro material if he can show some consistency. Of course, that's the big question - can he be consistent? We don't know.

Their low pre-season ranking doesn't assure a 9-11 win season, but their returning players and schedule probably do. I look for a good season out of the Hawks.

Mace wrote:Their low pre-season ranking doesn't assure a 9-11 win season, but their returning players and schedule probably do. I look for a good season out of the Hawks.

The fact that you don't have to endure another beatdown from the Badgers is a plus.

Jsc810 wrote:Teams on that poll that play LSU this year:

#3 Oregon
#20 Mississippi St.
#27 West Virginia
#23 Florida
#41 Tennessee
#19 Auburn
#2 Alabama
#14 Arkansas

Colorado plays eight of them too, plus USC. What's your point?