1. Ohio State: The Kool-Aid has been distributed. Everybody ready? Drink. Troy Smith is this year's Vince Young. Ted Ginn Jr. will be better, at least more consistent. A new killer defense starts being assembled March 30 when spring practice starts. Besides, who else are you going to put up here? It's still early but ... the Texas game (in Austin) looms large. The Bucks are aiming at this even more now that the Horns are defending national champs. Texas will be favored. Ohio State must avoid going all in emotionally. There's a long season ahead. 2. LSU: RB Alley Broussard has a knee. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell is nursing a shoulder. Sugar Bowl hero Justin Vincent is hobbled by an injury. What are we going to learn about the Tigers this spring? If nothing else, even more is expected after last year's hurricane-ravaged 11-2 season. It's still early but ... don't assume that the spring battle between Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux is merely for No. 2 behind Russell. Also, LSU finally has run out of all-star defensive tackles. Replacements must be found for Claude Wroten and Kyle Williams. 3. West Virginia: Everybody's sexy 2006 pick. Why not? The Mountaineers went 11-1 and beat Georgia at "home" in the Sugar Bowl with a young roster that will only get better. The only schedule concerns are Thursday night games at Louisville and Pittsburgh. Can you spell F-i-e-s-t-a? It's still early but ... remember how coach Rich Rodriguez came from Tulane and Clemson with a reputation as a spread offense guy? The truth his, he adjusts his scheme to his personnel better than anyone. Pat White threw only 114 times last year. 4. Auburn: A true SEC power, the Tigers are 26-4 in their past 30 games. Tommy Tuberville needs only to tinker with the offensive line to get ready for 2006. Auburn was an overtime loss to LSU away from playing in the SEC Championship Game. Shades of 2004 -- let's hope the preseason schedule isn't too weak just in case (and by that we mean just in case Auburn goes undefeated). The Weakling Four are Washington State, Buffalo, Arkansas State and Tulane. It's still early but ... the Tigers might have to go to a two-tailback set because of a spring injury to fullback Mike McLaughlin. Tuberville has done it before with Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. 5. Notre Dame: The defense must get better. The memory of Ohio State rolling up a Notre Dame opponent bowl-record 617 yards in the Fiesta Bowl can't be pleasant. Everybody knows Brady Quinn will compete for the Heisman. It would be great for the defense to break into the top 50 in total defense. (It was 75th last year, allowing almost 400 yards per game). It's still early but ... we can't stress enough the defense needs lots of work. The secondary was porous but isn't that a product of a front seven that can't put pressure on the quarterback? Take away the seven sacks against Stanford and ND averaged only two per game. 6. Oklahoma: Bob Stoops was due a "down" year, but a strong finish in an 8-4 season raises hopes again. Adrian Peterson is rededicated. Rhett Bomar gets it at quarterback. Most of the offense is back. We somehow feel that Stoops will be able to build a defense. It's still early but ... the offensive line needs work. Spring practice started Monday. Get ready for reps, reps, reps for a line that loses four starters. 7. Texas: Save your e-mails, Orangebloods. There is a reason Oklahoma is ranked higher. Call us heretics but we're thinking your guys might lose at least one this year, and one of them might be to OU. The Sooners will have had a year to think about the thrashing last year in Dallas. It's still early but ... this ranking is very tentative. Colt McCoy doesn't have to be a superstar at quarterback. If the Horns beat Ohio State and everything falls right, they could be back in the national championship game. 8. USC: Still the class of the Pac-10. And there's no reason to believe there will be much of a drop off at quarterback (John David Booty) or running back (tailback Herschel Dennis has 968 career rushing yards). Six starters return on defense, the weak spot in 2005. This team could easily win 10 games. It's still early but ... the linebacking corps of Oscar Lua, Keith Rivers, Brian Cushing and freshman All-American Rey Maualuga could be the best in the country. 9. Florida: Year 2 under Urban Meyer, which means big things if you consider his past at Bowling Green and Utah. An up-and-down first year produced nine victories. Not too shabby. Now the Gators will be favored to win the SEC East. It's still early but ... Meyer has threatened to play without a running back if someone doesn't step up. The Gators averaged less than 150 yards per game rushing last year. 10. Georgia: Maybe the Dawgs are overvalued here in the top 10 but we have faith in Mark Richt. D.J. Shockley sat around for four years. That was an upset in itself. Then he had a spectacular senior season. We have faith that Joe (Three Sticks) Tereshinski III or freshman Matthew Stafford will be able to get it done this year. This is a fantastic staff that continually is able to rebuild. It's still early but ... how can you not pencil this team in for nine wins based on history alone?
Not too bad IMO. Ohio State should be the favorite to win it all, Troy Smith is pretty darn good and Ginn should bounce back from a mediocre season. Defense will be the key for them...they lost Hawk and Carpenter as well as a couple DBs. I think UT at #7 is a pretty good ranking. Like the article says, the UT/Ohio State game could the make (UT) or break (Ohio St.) game for the season.
I could have started anywhere with this poll but ranking OU ahead of UT-Austin is just plain silly. There O-Line suxed last year and they're O-line is gonna be worse this year. Oh and don't forget 2 O-linemen quite last year cuz the O-line coach is a total ass. Funniest bit is Bomar "gets it." Yeah maybe if comes with a Jager Bomb.
