Via Pat Forde’s Twitter feed, here’s what Phil Steele’s top 25 looks like:
1. Oklahoma; 2. Ohio State; 3. Alabama; 4. TCU; 5. Nebraska; 6. Boise State; 7. Florida; 8. USC; 9. Miami; 10. Oregon; 11. Texas 12. UNC 13. VT 14. Iowa 15. Aub 16. ND 17. Ark 18. Penn St. 19. UGA 20. FSU 21. S. Car. 22. WVU 23. Wisc 24. Hou. 25. Arizona.
Conspicuously absent from that list is the juggernaut on the Flats.
I guess Anthony Allen needs to crank out another video.
Phil Steele is running his top 30 countdown at his blog. The first SEC team making an appearance is #26 LSU. If you’re a LSU fan, his forecast contains a pretty sobering description of a program that’s been in steady decline.
See how this reads to you:
An angry LSU squad plastered Miami 40-3 in the Peach Bowl. 2005 was the first time LSU defeated Aub, Ala and Fla all in the same season. They had 11 ret st’rs in ’06 and it was the first Tiger team since 1982 to beat two Top 10 foes on the road in the same year. In the friendly confines of the Sugar Bowl, they destroyed ND 41-14 and finished #3. In ’07 they were #2 in the preseason and the only FBS team not to lose a game in regulation (both losses 3OT)…
After LSU beat #14 Tenn 21-14 in the SEC Title game, they whipped Ohio St 38-24 for a 2nd National Title in 5 years. Some negative factors heading into ’08 were that they benefitted from +20 in TO’s and 2 net close wins. They had just 12 ret st’rs (3rd fewest SEC) and lost 29 pts in my NFL Draft Day Party Hangover (pg 308). While LSU was bowl eligible for a school record 9th straight season, it was an up and down season. LSU had the most losses ever by a defending BCS National Champ (5). At 7-5 and off 5 losses in their final 8, LSU was an underdog to GT but thrashed them 38-3 in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. After outgaining SEC foes by 132.2 and 81 ypg in ’06 and ’07, LSU went 3-5 in SEC play (-3.7 ypg)…
LSU had less yds than their opp’s in 4 of their 9 wins last year. Last year they had fortunate ypp’s on both offense and defense (see pg 299) and despite their 5-3 SEC record were -33.4 ypg (4th worst) in SEC play and on the season were outgained by an avg of 328-305.
[This year] LSU has just 10 ret st’rs (tied 2nd fewest) and draws N Car and W Virg in their non-conf slate and has road trips to Florida, Auburn and Ark in the SEC.
He predicts the Tigers fail to match last year’s nine-win total.
Filed under Phil Steele Makes My Eyes Water, SEC Football
So how far have things slid in Knoxville?
Chris Low thinks Tennessee stands a bigger chance of losing to 1-AA Tennessee-Martin than Mississippi State does to Memphis.
Ouch.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Dig in, people.
Bob Stoops thinks “pretty attractive” Oklahoma won’t have any problem getting a date to the expansion prom.
Filed under Big Ten Football
Tim James, I’m not from the government, but I’m here to help.
You’ve done stepped in it, son. You had things going your way with that driver’s license test-in-English viral ad, but then you had to go and blow all that momentum with that silly crack about Nick Saban that’s got every ‘Bama fan in the state (some of them even vote, you know) up in arms.
Even that shiny-headed fool Paul Finebaum has decided to weigh in. And if there’s one thing he excels at, it’s pot stirring.
It ain’t good, aight?
There’s a way out of the political wilderness for you, though, if you’ll only grab it.
What in the h e double-l am I talking about? Hear me out.
That’s a web site dedicated to exposing the practice by certain schools of signing more college football players than there’s room for on the roster, in the expectation that things will sort themselves out one way or another by the NCAA deadline. As a number of busybodies have recently pointed out, two of the leading practitioners of oversigning happen to set up shop in your fair state.
Now understand, there’s nothing illegal about oversigning. As long as the overall roster gets down to 85 kids by the deadline, no harm, no foul. But as folks like to say, aggressive oversigning does push the envelope somewhat. And because of that, some people are a might sensitive about the subject. That Jay Christensen fellah’s noted that Oversigning.com has had over 300,000 hits in the last 48 hours since everybody and his brother started linking to these charts. It’s safe to say that it’s stirred up a hornets nest. It’s also safe to say that a bunch of those hornets are going to be pulling a voting lever on June 1st.
That’s where you jump in. Here’s your chance to be a uniter, not a divider. Turn this football thing around. Condemn Oversigning.com. The guy running it is probably a jealous Northerner; tell him to keep his nose out of Alabama’s business. And since this is a numbers game that both Alabama and Auburn engage in, nobody can accuse you of taking sides. Heck, man, you’ve got a chance to defend Nick Saban here. D0 not blow it.
It makes sense. Does it to you?
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