The media is also very strange at times when they make preseason rankings. The more reputable writers will take the entire known picture into account more often than not. But it also seems a lot of them, as you say, like to jump on bandwagons and extrapolate past success to the next season regardless of recruiting classes, attrition, graduation, transfers, coaching changes, etc. Hell, I remember one ESPN guy ranking LSU preseason #1 in 2008 because "you should be #1 until you're beaten." It's such a stupid and ludicrous position when it comes to college football that it doesn't even merit further discussion.
No, I don't think I misunderstood it. I commented on it as it is. You didn't indicate in your first post that you wanted to know why Auburn and Arkansas are ahead of us as per Rivals... Let's see: A few reasons off the top of my head: Auburn: Perhaps it's because they're returning 8 starters on Defense. Perhaps it's because they had a pretty stellar recruitng season. Perhaps the pollsters like Auburn better. Who knows? They've got a pretty good running back and if their QB produces, they could exceed expectations. The depth is there too. Arkansas: 2 words.. Ryan Mallet. Yes, we beat Arky last year but don't be foolish in thinking Mallet and the 10 returning starters on offense won't be dangerous. They also have 7 defensive starters coming back. I don't think they could win the west but they could easily stun a few of their opponents causing the pollsters to appear correct in their assessment of the team. Now..As for LSU: We have 8 starters back on Offense but our line is young and we didn't have a great line last year when it was experienced. Not to mention the questions, "Do we even have a QB?", "Will the real Gary Crowton please stand up?", and "Who let that Studrawa guy in here and why is he eating all the food?" Offense is a concern in the pollsters' eyes. How about defense? We lost alot on defense in the off season. Couple of linemen, linebackers, a corner, a safety.. That is not to say that we don't have talent to replace them with, but it's unproven talent. Some of it will come from experienced players switching positions, and some will be young. Luckily some of the experienced ones we have are simply freaks of nature. But I could easily see where a pollster would think we're going to have problems this year. With all that being said, I still say that preseason polls are pretty useless for the most part. They are, more times than not, proven to be pretty inaccurate at the end of the season when the dust settles. I hate rivals also.. BTW FWIW - CFN has LSU ranked at #10, Auburn at #19, and Arkansas at #24. How ya reckon they feel about that? Scout.com: 2010 Pre-Preseason Rankings ... SEC
Preseason polls aren't indicators of how good a team is. They are really just predictions. Everyone wants to be the visionary that predicted which teams would have breakout years. It's kind of like the stock market. Auburn and Arkansas both have relatively new coaches and have shown a pattern of improvement over the last two years. Both 5-7 in '08 to 8-5 in '09. When you have low expectations and exceed them, then you become a team "on the rise." Pollsters like these. LSU had the national respect in 2007 but has not met expectations the last two seasons. Therefore we're looked at as a team in decline. I'm not saying it's right. It's just the way perception is in college football. At the end of the day, perception is reality. However, as I said before, this teams controls it's own destiny. If they win a few big games then the media "respect" will follow.
Say what? Entering 2009, Auburn had only 74 players on the roster, and less than half of the 2008 and 2007 classes were still on the roster. They are hoping to have 85 scholarship players this year, and 30 of those will be true freshmen. They are very young and very thin. Auburn will kick off football season with approximately 75 players on scholarship | al.com Most of Auburn's 2010 signing class on campus as Tigers take big step to replenish their roster | al.com
i'm telling you guys, it's not a slight on this team, it's a slight on the coaching staff, and miles in particular. the media has absolutely ZERO faith in Les Miles. If i were CLM, i would use this to fuel me.
because momentum in programs is telling. programs that get turned around go through a typical progression. they are looking for that progression and both ark and auburn have many hallmarks of that. and despite all the things that lsu does have going for it, program momentum is not one of them.
My bad, poorly worded on my part... Thanks. What I should have said was, there's no lack of talent, they've got plenty.. But in terms of experienced players, you're absolutely right. Auburn is a young team. The bigger point I was trying to make I guess, is that there are many conceivable reasons that we could be ranked lower than Arky and Auburn by some. In the pre-season, it's all a matter of opinion for the most part anyway.
This is why no respect, and they are not gonna let him live it down until Miles gets the Tigers back to the way we should be: The art of clock management - SEC Blog - ESPN
