I understand where you're coming from and essentially agree. In the BCS it's important either way but to me there's a big difference between earning...and being given the #1 rank. Someone tell me again which one doesn't count.
Think about it . They really deep down in their football hearts want USC and Oregon 1 & 2 , hopinh that USC will beat Oregon . LSU and Bama will have a hard time staying in the Top 5 this season . The SEC will see to that .
Their 1's are as good as anyone's in the country. Their 2's? There's a significant drop-off at that point. As I see it, a lot are thinking they'll be able to out score any team they play this year and they very well may. If a player or two happened to go down during the season—even for a stretch of a few games—it could easily and quickly translate to a loss or two. Any time a team wins the NC they are going to need luck along the way. If USC gets theirs on the injury front their chances of being in Miami are as good as anyone.
So far they can't keep their players on the field during practice. They've lost 2 defensive ends for the season, just recently. With their 70 on scholarship to begin with, it's hard to see how depth doesn't start rearing it's ugly head the second half of the season. Pac 12 shouldn't be confused with THE power conference in America, but chasing all that speed of Oregon in the 4th quarter and around the league, with starters, seems daunting. Me thinks the prognosticators are trying too hard to visualize a national champion from somewhere, anywhere, but the Southeast.
Whoa...we agree! USC had little depth before they started practice, and now are in some pretty serious trouble. But it's clear the national sports media, along with 99% of fans across the country (outside the SEC), identify success with offense and superstars. Matt Flynn, Matt Mauck, AJ MacArron, and Greg McElroy weren't/aren't superstars. But all four won NCGs because of a strong running game and staunch defense, along with the ability to play within the scheme/manage the games. Matt Barkely, Robert Woods, that's the two names that pop out instantly if you ask someone about USC. Ask me about LSU, and I'm saying Sam Montgomery, Eric Reid, Keke Mingo. Defense. Not as flashy maybe, but more important in the grand scheme of things. I remember listening to talk radio prior to the tOSU/UF BCS game. The talking heads were discounting the speed advantage UF had by throwing out Ted Ginn's name. Dumbasses. They still don't realize the speed of the SEC is on the DL. Not wideouts. I thought they'd learn after a bunch of guys wearing 90s on their back spent the night chasing down and catching the tOSU Heisman winner Troy Smith. Apparently not...as evidenced by the fact that they still only look at offensive firepower and flash to make their picks.
It does two things that would have easily translated into losses last year. It significantly cuts down on TO margin, and hurts our punt return ability. Which means we're going to be leaning on the offense a lot more than we had to last season. If Mett is as good as advertised, then they'll be up to the challenge. Especially when you look at how favorable the schedule is compared to last year to work out the kinks on both sides of the ball prior to SEC play. Otherwise I don't see this being nearly as bad as the pundits are speculating, all they see is us losing a Heisman finalist and are too lazy to do their homework to see the depth in the defensive backfield. This is not in the same universe as losing your starting QB, around whom your entire offense must run, with zero in the way of second-string depth. Everyone remembers Mathieu's strips and the ooh's and ahhh's of his punt returns. Nobody remembers the times when he went for strips instead of the easy tackle and allowed the carrier to pick up extra yards. Mathieu plays purely instinctual, and often undisciplined, football, and as someone pointed out above, that results in feast or famine.
Am I the only one that finds it ironic seeing people say the AP poll is meaningless on a thread about the poll on a college football discussion forum? Hey, I realize that it isn't included in the BCS formula. I also realize that SID's and coaches look at the poll and seeing one team ranked has an impact on how they vote in the coaches poll. It's amusing to me that football fans long for legitimate college football talk in the summer months and when the poll comes out it sparks just that, football talk. But, so many are so quick to label pre-season polls as meaningless. Glenn Guilbeau votes Arkansas at #21. It's enough for a lot of UArk fans to start firing off emails to Glenn telling him how they feel about his vote. Jon Wilner has Bama at #9 which creates the same type of response. Bob Asmussen votes Michigan #1 and a great majority of the college football world is voicing their opinions about his vote. Saying in the end it means nothing is one thing. Saying it is meaningless is quite another. While I may not agree with some of the voters, I certainly welcome the day it's published. It's a little more fuel to the fire that's going to be lit in 10 days.
It's worth mentioning that Ted Ginn returned the opening KO for a touchdown, was injured by a teammate during the celebration, and didn't play another snap.
