chuck's Top 25

[chuck 0]

So I looked okay on some stuff . .looked a bit off on some . . Lousiville shot even higher up my ranking after their distruction of OSU. Meanwhile, Florida, with a victory over a Top 10 opponent, dropped 2 spots . . .I can't promise you everything I do will make sense, but I will say this - no one in the SEC is impressing me right now - the 2004 Auburn Tigers would cake walk through the SEC this year:

Rank Team (Last Week Ranking)

1. USC (1)

2. Virginia Tech (3)

3. Texas (2)

4. Louisville (9)

5. LSU (5)

6. Florida (4)

7. Purdue (11)

8. Georgia Tech (12)

9. Ohio State (6)

10. UGA (10)

11. Notre Dame (8)

12. Arizona State (13)

13. Texas Tech (14)

14. Tennessee (7)

15. Michigan (17)

16. Virginia (21)

17. Auburn (22)

18. Cal (18)

19. Iowa State (15)

20. Iowa (16)

21. Wisconsin (24)

22. Florida State (23)

23. Miami (25)

24. Texas A&M (NR)

25. bama (NR)

[texaubie 0]

Just curious why you have LSU above Florida. I think Florida has looked the most impressive out of the SEC so far. I did not think LSU looked good but they have only played one game. However, we'll know more about LSU after they play UT this week.

[chuck 0]

I have been very unimpressed with Florida this year. The did not decimate Wyoming like a Top 5 Team did, and Since I haven't been really impressed at all with UT, beating them by 10, and only scoring one TD raises questions for me. Urban Meyer's offense is supposed to be this explosive thing that puts up points. What I'm getting from the UF situation right now is one of two things:

1) The players just are not getting it

2) That even will all of the offensive talent on the Gators, Meyer's offense is not going to be nearly as productive in the SEC

LSU struggled early on, but showed a lot of heart in their comeback, and a lot of offensive ability. Their ranking will be effected a lot by what happens vs. UT - and by what ASU continues to do

[WarEagle_57 0]

So is this a ranking system you have developed or is it just your opinion. I thought it was just your opinions, but after reading your intro it sounded like you had no controll over it.

[texaubie 0]

The biggest thing I noticed about LSU was their lack of defense. I agree that UT has not looked great so far. Before Saturday, I thought that UT would lose to UF but come back and beat LSU the following week. We'll see!

[chuck 0]

no, this is entirely my opinion . .

I expect LSU to beat UT this weekend . .handily ..

[Weagle98 119]

What I don't understand is why Auburn is not ranked in the major polls or ranked lower than ND with a loss to GT but ND is ranked pretty high with a loss to a team that is lower ranked than GT (or in your poll not ranked at all)?

[chuck 0]

With the ND thing . .my guess it is because Notre Dame has beaten 2 teams ranked in the Top 25 at the time they beat them. Granted, PITT is not good, but Michigan is still ranked. Auburn has beaten two teams, neither which is even receiving votes.

[Aufan59 65]

Did you watch the Michigan State/Notre Dame game?

MSU dominated the game on both sides of the ball until they closed up in a shell, ran up the middle twice, didn't convert 3rd and long, and punted it away multiple times in a row.

ND allowed 38 in regulation... when MSU wasn't even playing offense in the last quarter and a half.

MSU dominated when they weren't playing stupid.

ND will lose atleast 3 more.... They beat a Michigan team that will finish 4th or 5th in the Big 10 due to horrible offense and an 0-3 Pitt.

You are buying into the media hype that is ND.

13 is high for Texas Tech, who has beaten 2 Junior High Teams.

Ohio State will go down in typical fasion:

Offense?

Hilarious!

Its

Only

Special

Teams

And

Taking

Exams for star players here!

2 more losses from them atleast.

Auburn at 17 is too high until they prove something.

Otherwise looks good to me.

[chuck 0]

I'm not going to disagree with you on either statements:

I'm in process of gradually dropping OSU . .the dropped from 6-9 after a win.

My problem isn't that I think teams like OSU and Notre Dame are that good, simply that I"m not impressed with anyone else.

Right now . .I'm sticking to my preseason USC vs. Virginia Tech MNC game

A few other things:

1) If GT loses to VT in a close one, don't expect them to drop out of my Top 10 - in fact, I may move them up

2) If Tennessee beats LSU - there is a good chance both teams are taken out of my Top 10 - unless UT looks like worldbeaters on offense during the game

3) I think Auburn is around the 15th-17th team in the nation . . unless we lose to a team like WKU or USC - I'm keeping us there. If we beat LSU . .I'll start moving us up - but if LSU pounds UT, beats UF and then beats us . .I probably won't move us much

4) I think bama is going to struggle - but not sure if they will vs. UT

[AURainman 6]

Totally agree with your analysis. Let me comment on the UF game. Florida looked confused and outmatched.

If...

UT doesn't try a fake punt (stupid, stupid, stupid)...

UT doesn't muff a punt (stupid, stupid, stupid)...

...then that game is 7-7 until midway through the 4th quarter. UF couldn't handle UT that night, UF just found it when they needed it. UT made bonehead calls that cost them the game. I still look for UF to lose to a couple more teams this year.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Interesting that GA Tech moves up 4 spots after struggling with UConn. (i know reggie didnt play, but still...)

And AU is 17th, moving up 5 spots, because they beat a high school team.

And bama just BARELY cracks the top 25. At this point, Auburn has done nothing to show they are better than bama. Much less 8 spots better.

That doesnt mean they ARENT. It just means that they havent shown it.

Bama hasn't done anything to indicate they are "going to struggle"...

[SouthLink02 8]

Louisville barely gets bye maybe the worst team in the SEC yet somehow shows potential to chuck then shots up to #4 after beating unranked OSU :huh:

And no offense...Georgia Tech being ahead of us, nonetheless 4 spots ahead of us, is a laughable joke.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Bama hasn't done anything to indicate they are "going to struggle"...

182366[/snapback]

I guess I'm wrong but it sure looked to me that bama was struggling with Sou. Miss. until Prothro made the circus catch.

[AURainman 6]

Bama hasn't done anything to indicate they are "going to struggle"...

182366[/snapback]

I guess I'm wrong but it sure looked to me that bama was struggling with Sou. Miss. until Prothro made the circus catch.

182371[/snapback]

...and only led Middle Tennessee Techinical College by 2 at half time.

[chuck 0]

Louisville also absolutely demolished Oregon State - I'm taking more notice of that then their rivalry game vs. Kentucky. Also, if you watched that game, they had a late TD called back that would have made it a 14 point game. Basically, I thought they had potential, and then they proved it . ..

I dropped UGA mainly because I was so unimpressed with USC. They played with zero heart, intensity, or anything vs. bama. . .thereby UGA's 2 point win looks much worse then it originally did. If Richt would pull his head out of his arse and just run the dang ball - I'd probably have you ranked much higher . .but he hasn't, and I don't think he's smart enough to do it. UGA could run at will on any team in the nation - but Richt feels compelled to run CBB's offense . .

I'm sorry if I'm just not that impressed with bama. You were losing at halftime to MTSU (another 'high school' team) and to Southern Miss. Let's compare . .bama spends half the game losing to their weak opponent, Auburn scores every time they have possession . .that's my basis for that ranking.

GT over UGA - GT has been more impressive . .UCONN was a bowl team last year - they had won their previous 2 games by a combined score of 97-0. GT's 2nd best player - and a KEY contributor didn't play, and they still won by two TD's. GT has beaten 3 teams from BCS conferences, and two bowl teams last year. UGA has beaten 1 team from a BCS conference, and zero bowl teams last year.

AU moves up because we are improving things that looked poor against UGA (pass defense, running game), because we have won 16 out of our last 17 games, and because I'm a homer.

[BamaGrad03 0]

First, we werent trailing MTSU at the half. And we won 26-7

Second, although we were trailing Southern Miss at the half, they only beat us on one drive. If you watched the game, youd know that. I dont care what the halftime score was. We dominated the second half and SHOULD have won by 16. Even with all the mistakes, we still won by 9 points.

Auburn played poorly against MSU in the SECOND half, but no one is dropping them.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe we were running very vanilla schemes to hold back before the USC game?

Auburn has a loss on the record. And their 'improvements' have come against a team that struggled to beat Tulane, and another that couldnt beat my flag football team.

Again, Im not saying that AU ISNT 8 spots better than Bama. But given the current season, they have shown nothing to support it yet.

[SouthLink02 8]

Again, you fail to even talk about Louisville's joke of a game against UK...which yes, I did watch some off.....do they get a free pass for their game against them but we don't for a much tougher USC team?

We blew out BSU....a team that at the time was ranked Top 15....does that game now not count?

As for Tech,

We own them and they will finish with 7-8 wins as usual

[Streyeder 0]

Bama hasn't done anything to indicate they are "going to struggle"...

182366[/snapback]

I guess I'm wrong but it sure looked to me that bama was struggling with Sou. Miss. until Prothro made the circus catch.

182371[/snapback]

...and only led Middle Tennessee Techinical College by 2 at half time.

182408[/snapback]

And in both games, the 2nd half was DOMINATED by UA, allowing no points scored. Now, against USC in which we actually had game footage of the team, UA dominated the entire game. Coincidence?

Also, How can you rank AU so high after a loss to GT and wins over MSU and a high school?

[TitanTiger 20,499]

Again, you fail to even talk about Louisville's joke of a game against UK...which yes, I did watch some off.....do they get a free pass for their game against them but we don't for a much tougher USC team?

Actually, he did mention that UL-UK game and mentioned that it's a rivalry game and that there was a call that negated a score that would have made it a 14 pt win or something like that.

And your win vs USC isn't looking that great in light of the pantsing Bama gave them this past weekend.

We blew out BSU....a team that at the time was ranked Top 15....does that game now not count?

Not as much as it did. Boise State is now 0-2 and no where near the rankings.

As for Tech, 

We own them and they will finish with 7-8 wins as usual

182434[/snapback]

Maybe. But right now, I'd say their resume looks better than yours.

[chuck 0]

slink and bg . .all valid points . .

I'll address them one at a time:

1) "First, we werent trailing MTSU at the half. And we won 26-7" - you are right . .MTSU was covering at the half . .sorry, I was in Vegas . .but I do remember being VERY unimpressed with your first half performace (as was your fan based, who partially booed the team off the field).

2) "Even with all the mistakes, we still won by 9 points" - two points - one - you should have, it was Southern Miss - 2 - we made a ton of mistakes against GT - mistakes happen, and you have to account for them. Also, I don't care why SMiss was beating you . .they were beating you . period. How soon you forget how proud the bama nation was at leading Auburn in the first half last year . . .

3) "Auburn played poorly against MSU in the SECOND half, but no one is dropping them. " - actually, I disagree. We continued to shut out an SEC opponent (who is 2-0 not counting their game against us). We also simply ran the ball to to work on the running game, something which our coaching staff indicated immediately following the game. They were putting 9 in the box, and we kept running b/c the running game looked so poor against GT.

4) "Did you ever stop to think that maybe we were running very vanilla schemes to hold back before the USC game?" - I don't know, were you? I haven't heard that mentioned before . . .

5) "Auburn has a loss on the record. And their 'improvements' have come against a team that struggled to beat Tulane, and another that couldnt beat my flag football team." - yes we do, but to the same token, bama hasn't played a team even close to as good as Georgia Tech. Our improvements came against the teams we played - our defense gave up 3 points our offense score 91 (okay take away 14 if you count the KR for a TD and the defenseive TD). Bama has played weak opponents and not even come close to dominating in this manner. MSU and Ball State were NEVER in their games against us - the same can not be said for SM or MTSU.

on to slink:

1) I have spoken about Kentucky - and given my reason for not making it a huge mark against them. I was more impressed with their destruction of Oregon State then their victory over Kentucky.

2) Is USC tougher then Kentucky? Are you sure about that . . ?

3) BSU being Top 25 . .completely valid point that I had forgotten - you deserve as much credit for that win as I have given ND for their win over Pitt . .I will adjust next week.

4) We'll see about Tech. I disagree with you right .. but I do think they lose to Virginia Tech this week.

[SouthLink02 8]

Chuck, have some of my kool-aid and everything will be ok

[BamaGrad03 0]

How soon you forget how proud the bama nation was at leading Auburn in the first half last year . . .

Then by that token, you now know the reason why Auburn was ranked behind OU at season's end.

And for the record, USC/GA is no less a rivalry than is UK/UL

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

and another that couldnt beat my flag football team.

182431[/snapback]

While you might possibly be right on this, I do think that Ball State would cover the spread in this matchup.

[SouthLink02 8]

UK/UL have played a whopping 17 times in their long storied football careers

USC/UGA have been playing for 90+ years....