Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll released today - Crimson Tide #1 | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll released today - Crimson Tide #1

Remember you like a red headed step child!

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If that red headed step child was kicking your ass :)
 
Keep an eye on #18

They'll essentially swap places with where Michigan sits now when the season is done in my opinion. I can see 10-2 with a shot at 11 wins in a bowl game.

I think that defense goes from good to great this year. And freshman receiver Jeff Thomas can do incredible things with the ball in his hands. Watched him put that on display a few times in the UA all star game.
 
I think Michigan starts off 0-1 as well ...

They lost a ton of talent and Harbaugh hasn't had enough recruiting cycles to fully put his stamp on the team yet. Not to mention they don't necessarily have a QB. I'm a big fan of the training wheel games for UF - for obvious reasons for those paying attention - but of all the times to begin a season with a game like this ... I'll take it.

Bama FSU should be a blast. I don't know who to thank for that match up to start the season but they ****ing nailed it. I don't have any doubt this will be another juggernaut Bama team but I am extremely interested in how Francois has matured and responds to the pressure. If he can take it to the next level they have the talent to be pretty scary. I just hope UF finally has a QB again so that end of the season game can mean what it used to.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but this has the makings of what could be a special college football season. There are a lot of teams poised to make some noise this year. Teams with talent and QBs. After this Tannehill bullshit I'm ready.
Yeah this is a rare point where I'm confident about our line headed into the season. The skill position talent is all there. Just have to nail the damn QB position down. Still nervous about that.
 
I think Michigan beats Florida. The weakness of Michigan's defense is the secondary and that's just a lack of experience. I don't see Florida exploiting it. The question marks for Michigan are on the offensive side of the ball along the OL and the WRs. Going to be a good game.
 
17 is a bit too low for U of L. I think the 10 to 15 range is more like it for preseason.

Mike Summers was brought on to give the offensive line better coaching. I fully expect that unit to at least be average, which is a great improvement. There's no way the offensive unit will lose any where near as many fumbles as they did last season.

As long as Sirmon is at least competent as a DC, it will be addition by subtraction in kicking Grantham to the curb. His unit's performance in that UK game last season is what got him canned.

10 wins is on the table for sure. FSU and NC State are away games and will be the toughest. Clemson comes here. I wish the rest of the schedule was tougher. I'm still not sure why AD Tom Jurich scheduled Purdue. I know it's supposed to be some kind of showcase game in Lucas Oil Stadium, but still...it's Purdue.
 
10 years in a row,ranked #1 at some point in the season...not to shappy,Nick...good job.
 
That's proper. Alabama should start the season #1 every year as long as they maintain this recruiting pace, and rare defensive intensity compared to the national trend.

They simply have more margin for error than anyone else, given that combo. To nitpick scheduling and quarterbacking or whatever is ignoring the big picture.

Alabama's power rating, for one thing, is astronomical almost every season. The sports media prefers to ignore that type of thing in desperation for the "horse race" aspect so it can tout upsets: "You never know..."

Meanwhile, last season Alabama and Clemson ended the season basically tied at 105 in Jeff Sagarin's power ratings for USA Today. Then it was an 11 point drop to Michigan in third place at 94. I can't begin to describe what an advantage that is. My alma mater, USC, for reference was 89 and change or more than 15 points back. Yet SC finished third in some final polls, if I remember correctly.

That was bogus. USC lost several times early and then back doored matters without anything resembling the typical season-long pressure and scrutiny assigned to the #3 team. Most likely the early #4 now is inflated as well.

I'll be very interested in Ohio State and specifically Little Game Barrett. He essentially threw away two full seasons singlehandedly despite one of the greatest collections of premier talent nationwide in recent memory. It should not have been possible.

Urban Meyer's offense is so well designed it always enables very high rushing attempt numbers and passing yards per attempt. That dates back to every stop. Alex Smith was 8.9 YPA under Meyer at Utah. Tim Tebow was a career 9.3 at Florida despite what I would call not the purest passing motion or instincts.

Then at Ohio State every starting quarterback under Meyer has averaged at least 8.0 YPA until Little Game each of the past two seasons. It was 6.7 both times. Unimaginably brutal. I have no idea how Little Game escaped national scrutiny and ridicule. It did not happen on betting sites or locales. I can assure you that. It was a frequent topic.

The list of 8+ YPA quarterbacks at Ohio State under Meyer includes Little Game himself. That's what makes this so bizarre and pathetic. He put up 9.0 as a freshman in 2014, before plummeting all the way to that 6.7 in 2015 and again in 2016. In big games it's considerably worse that that, notably the 2.9 YPA in the home loss to Michigan State as 14 point favorite in 2015, and 3.8 YPA in the shutout playoff defeat to Clemson last season.

I'm not a Barrett fan but as a probability guy I have to believe he'll naturally bounce upwards this season. If not, he'll be one of the biggest flops in college football history, in reality if not assigned as such. Even moderate quarterbacking would have allowed Ohio State a big title chance either of the past two seasons and specifically in 2015. That 6.7 range is annually about 85th in the country. Ohio State was 87th last season when Barrett was solely responsible. Cardale Jones rescued matters in 2015 before Urban Meyer's ill conceived and fatal midseason switch. Ohio State finished 43rd nationally in YPA that year. Under Barrett alone it would have been tied for 85th.

Otherwise, the Canes will have an attacking bully defense but the ends are superior to the tackles, which is never the ideal relationship. Young secondary. Still, the pressure in the backfield should be fun to watch. Many teams will be shellshocked.

On offense the quarterback will probably be the athletic freshman and some growing pains along with lots of wow moments. As Slimm pointed out, the freshman receiver from the St. Louis area Jeff Thomas has tons of stop and start ankle breaking wiggle. Great pairing with the more polished and cerebral but also fast enough sophomore in Ahmmon Richards. He has some Reggie Wayne qualities.

The offensive line is still shaky.

Recruiting recently has been good but not great. That's why I'm skeptical of high national honors. I like to assign overall level of roster and program strength instead of evaluating piece by piece.

I expect 3 losses but 2 wouldn't be a big surprise.
 
That Michigan defense had a good showing today. Much faster than what many thought they would be. Devin Bush Jr is a flat out stud.

I'm disappointed that Harbaugh rolls with Speight. I like his pocket ability and he reads defenses well but he pauses with his throws and his accuracy is inconsistent.

That's why you sleep over at the future kicker's house lol. That young man is quite a weapon.
 
Seems like somebody tried to say Miami and Michigan would essentially swap places and those quarterbacks weren't any good.
 
They still have a lot of talent and a very manageable schedule. As long as they have Harbaugh, they'll get the benefit of the doubt in their ranking. I can't complain much, FSU has been over-ranked coming into the season a few times based on legacy more than talent at times.

This year's FSU squad is going to be very, very tough as long as the offensive line gels but we have a brutal schedule. If we somehow run the board, no one can claim we didn't have a strong enough schedule. Bama, Clemson, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami, and Florida plus the ACC championship game are on the slate.
Nope.
 
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