Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

So it's Bama -13.5 at Doak Campbell? I'd still give the points in a heartbeat. Mike Norvell's buyout is going to keep his job for him for a bit, but the game has caught up to him and then some.

FSU was one of the first to really focus on winning in the portal and they had their pick of the litter out of the gates. Not any more.

They are starting this year the following guys on offense who are homegrown: <crickets chirping>. Zero guys. The guys they will be starting were a bunch of players from other programs who were casted off or at small schools. Roydell Williams from Bama. Squirrel White from Tennessee (but he's so fast! can he catch?). Duce Robinson from SC. The dipshit loudmouth who was benched at BC is now the starting QB for them. The OL is likely to be 5 guys from 5 different programs that are all on campus for the first time. 

Defensively, they have like 3 homegrown starters. Most of the defenders they've brought in to start haven't even been full time starters at their prior stops in Bama, Nebraska, UCF, Syracuse, etc. 

That is a program that lost its soul when they lost their QB and their CFP appearance and they won't see daylight again until there's regime change, if then. I actually hope "The Snub" is a curse that sits on top and shits on top of that fucking place for the next century. No one has been given the benefit of the doubt more when it comes to getting special treatment for title contention than FSU. And they stunk it up every time they were the team that got helped out into the CFP or BCS title game. They get it in the other direction one time, can't get over it, and the rest of us have to hear about it. Take Alabama all the way up to 28 points. They're going to crush FSU. 

Well, I knew it FSU was gonna be extremely young, but I wasn't aware of just how grim it was so, thanks.

I still never love giving a lot away with brand new QB on the road, and recognize my hypocrisy with Arch at OSU. I'd counter Arch isn't brand new and a different level. 

The line opened Bama -11.5 and has already grown to -13.5. Based on both what you just said and the Bama reputation I anticipate it will grow a goodly amount prior to game. If I was going to take it, I'd take it now and as noted, think it's a good bet. 

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

So it's Bama -13.5 at Doak Campbell? I'd still give the points in a heartbeat. Mike Norvell's buyout is going to keep his job for him for a bit, but the game has caught up to him and then some.

FSU was one of the first to really focus on winning in the portal and they had their pick of the litter out of the gates. Not any more.

They are starting this year the following guys on offense who are homegrown: <crickets chirping>. Zero guys. The guys they will be starting were a bunch of players from other programs who were casted off or at small schools. Roydell Williams from Bama. Squirrel White from Tennessee (but he's so fast! can he catch?). Duce Robinson from SC. The dipshit loudmouth who was benched at BC is now the starting QB for them. The OL is likely to be 5 guys from 5 different programs that are all on campus for the first time. 

Defensively, they have like 3 homegrown starters. Most of the defenders they've brought in to start haven't even been full time starters at their prior stops in Bama, Nebraska, UCF, Syracuse, etc. 

That is a program that lost its soul when they lost their QB and their CFP appearance and they won't see daylight again until there's regime change, if then. I actually hope "The Snub" is a curse that sits on top and shits on top of that fucking place for the next century. No one has been given the benefit of the doubt more when it comes to getting special treatment for title contention than FSU. And they stunk it up every time they were the team that got helped out into the CFP or BCS title game. They get it in the other direction one time, can't get over it, and the rest of us have to hear about it. Take Alabama all the way up to 28 points. They're going to crush FSU. 

Agreed. I think Bama is gonna pack FSU's shit to such an extent that they may have to cut away from the game just so the entire nation isnt subjected to the site of Norvell dragging his prolapsed anus up and down the sideline. They went 2-10 last year and they are counting on this chode to turn it around?

image.png.4b39158ee11a37ca08db06ae21e1089d.png

Dazed And Confused Slater GIFs | Tenor

Edited by Blotto
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted (edited)
On 8/4/2025 at 2:52 PM, closetojumping said:

Overrated:

-Georgia

-Oregon

-LSU

-Miami

-South Carolina (should not even be ranked)

-Ole Miss (should not even be ranked)

-Tennessee (should not even be ranked)

-Texas 8&4 (should not even be ranked)

Underrated:

-Alabama (yep)

-Arizona State

-Indiana

-Iowa State

-Missouri (their schedule virtually guarantees a 9-3 floor if Pribula is just decent)

-Louisville (see Mizzou)

-Nebraska 

-Minnesota

-Baylor

-Washington

-Georgia Tech

 

 

 

Here is my response to your picks.

Green means I think they are underrated. Yellow means I need to look more at their schedule or don't know enough to call. Red mean I think they are over rated or should not be in the top 25.

There are 4 glaring ones to me. ASU, Indiana both possible top 10 aggie and Tennessee that only belong on a list of also rans.

Edited by BurntEyes
Posted (edited)
57 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

Here is my response to your picks.

Green means I think they are underrated. Yellow means I need to look more at their schedule or don't know enough to call. Red mean I think they are over rated or should not be in the top 25.

There are 4 glaring ones to me. ASU, Indiana both possible top 10 aggie and Tennessee that only belong on a list of also rans.

My reasoning, spoilered below:

Spoiler

Overrated:

-Georgia - return just 5-6 starters, new QB in a mediocre OC offense. deep roster but less so on offense. schedule has multiple potential potholes, even if toughest games are at home.

-Oregon - Moore does nothing for me at QB. Stein seems like a quality coach and they turned Nix into a 1st rounder, so maybe the same happens for Moore but I'm going to need to see it. They lost their TB, WRs, TE, all of their OL and a bunch of starters on defense. They hit the transfer portal hard, but see FSU for risk on living that way. Theineman is excellent, so are Boettcher and Uiagalaialaieia, but there's a lot to make up on D. Hughes was a good RB at Tulane, so maybe that's okay and Oregon has a strong roster, but the schedule has a ton of travel and, with the losses, I don't see a playoff team.

-LSU - Nussmeier gets lauded and then I watch him and I see a decent arm and mediocre decision-making. They replace 4 NFL picks on the OL and face the Clemson front to open. This keeps the streak of LSU opening season losses in tact. Weeks is great but coming off of injury, Perkins doesn't get to play Arkansas every week, the LSU front 4 is thin and meh. They have good WRs transferred in and Durham is a good RB. Good roster, multiple tough road games, Brian Kelly might kill someone. 

-Miami - This was lazy voting. Beck is nothing special, their skill guys have a lot to prove, James Brockermeyer is their starting C. The defense returns a bunch of individual talent but they played like shit last year. Schedule skips Clemson and Ga Tech but Cristobal will find them an extra loss on his own.

-South Carolina (should not even be ranked) - These guys have two of the best players in the country at their respective positions (Edge and QB) plus an athletic freak at WR. They have to replace a ton outside of those guys. This is South Carolina. They don't just reload. Also, Sellers could very well go down due to overuse and they would fully crater at that point. While they miss Texas and Georgia, they have tough road games and two very competitive or rough OOC games. I see them struggling to finish with a winning record. 

-Ole Miss (should not even be ranked) - They blew their wad last year and didn't do nearly enough to replace everything they lost. Beyond that, Simmons doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. Show me. They're ranked here due to sloth and the Kiffin Halo Effect.

-Tennessee (should not even be ranked) - I don't really know what in the fuck the voters were doing here. The QB is bottom of the P4 barrel, the SEC rushing leader is gone from the backfield and they return one starter on the OL. The defense returns some experience and they have a gift of a schedule outside of hosting Georgia early and at Bama the third Saturday in October. Maybe they luck into 9-3, but that's their ceiling and betting big on a new backfield.

-Texas 8&4 (should not even be ranked) - I've built an entire thread covering these guys and why they're yet again overrated and will finish the season 8-5 or worse.

Underrated:

-Alabama (yep) - top 5 team if the QB can play. Nothing crazy on the schedule and a top 3 roster in the country. Tons of experience back on defense at every level. Good RBs, good OL, dynamic WR in Williams. Daboer wins wherever he goes. I think they get to the semis or better this season unless QB is a joke.

-Arizona State - They return everyone but Skattebo and his replacement from Army is pretty fucking good. They have an excellent QB and WR too. These guys deserve to be ranked as a top 8 team heading into this season. Should have been a layup choice.

-Indiana - Schedule is trash again, 3 automatic wins in OOC, they avoid Ohio State and Michigan. Mendoza is a good QB, they bring back a bunch of other guys and Cignetti clearly knows what he's doing.

-Iowa State - It pained me to say they're underrated, but Campbell is damned good whiny bitch of a coach. I like the QB and their defense is always terrific and tough to face with Heacock calling the set-ups.

-Missouri (their schedule virtually guarantees a 9-3 floor if Pribula is just decent) - They brought in high end guys at RB and WR along with Pribula, return most of their OL, and they'll have a good and experienced defense. People will start taking them more seriously after they beat SCar in September.

-Louisville (see Mizzou) - If you like Miller Moss in Brohm's system, you should like Louisville. The RB coming back is excellent as well. 

-Nebraska  - Year 3 for Rhule, usually a big deal for a program. Raiola looked great at times as a true freshman. Schedule is forgiving with no Ohio State and no Oregon. I could easily see 9-4 and ranked to close the year.

-Minnesota - Minnesota brings back a lot of experience. They need the QB to be okay and then their schedule can help them get to 8+ wins while still going to Ohio State and Oregon. Fleck gets shit on a lot by people but he's been great for Minnesota. He always seems to have them in a bowl. It's not hard to see 9-4 and ranked here either.

-Baylor - The Big 12 is wide open as usual, so who knows where this goes, but Baylor has many pieces needed to win the whole thing and make the playoff. They've got NFL talent at QB, RB, TE, OL and WR. Defensively, they have questions, but that's Aranda's field of expertise. Tough OOC hosting Auburn and going to SMU. They avoid ISU and Tech but get KSU, ASU, both early, and Utah late.

-Washington - I like the QB and think Fisch is an excellent coach. Their defense is going to be stacked. They get Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, but they also face a weak OOC, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, Wisconsin, and UCLA. That's 8 wins. Beat Illinois or one of the big ones and they're a 9 win team.

-Georgia Tech - They have a lot of experience and a tough SOB at QB. If Gideon doesn't shit the bed, they should be plenty good in an average ACC. They do play Georgia and then get Clemson in the ACC, but they avoid the rest of the top of the conference. These guys would beat ATM's ass on a neutral field. 

Edited by closetojumping
  • Hook 'Em 6
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Spoilered below are my responses in italic

Spoiler

Overrated:

-Georgia - return just 5-6 starters, new QB in a mediocre OC offense. deep roster but less so on offense. schedule has multiple potential potholes, even if toughest games are at home.

I agree that offense is absolutely the question. Looking at their schedule they start with Marshall, Peay, Tennessee, Bama, Kentucky, Auburn and Ole Miss which is 6 wins to open and because Bama will be ranked high too, leaves them in top 5-10 easy. They then have Florida, MS State, Texas, Charlotte (fucking pussies) and GT. Texas and Florida are likely losses. While I'm high on GT that's hard to slot against Georgia by that point. So 9-10 wins and if Texas is the only loss they'll be top 10-15 with losses only to Texas and Bama. Net, Florida's rebound and GT determine the reality. While I think they should be ranked they aren't top 10 at all.

-Oregon - Moore does nothing for me at QB. Stein seems like a quality coach and they turned Nix into a 1st rounder, so maybe the same happens for Moore but I'm going to need to see it. They lost their TB, WRs, TE, all of their OL and a bunch of starters on defense. They hit the transfer portal hard, but see FSU for risk on living that way. Theineman is excellent, so are Boettcher and Uiagalaialaieia, but there's a lot to make up on D. Hughes was a good RB at Tulane, so maybe that's okay and Oregon has a strong roster, but the schedule has a ton of travel and, with the losses, I don't see a playoff team.

Based on historical performance, I put perhaps too much faith in their portal choices and quick development of QBs. I cant dispute the other losses. They open with Montana State, Okie Lite, Northwestern, Oregon State and PSU. 4 of those are pretty easy to call in Oregon's favor and while I believe PSU will be a substantially better team I think it entirely possible Franklin shits the bed on a top 5 match-up. So that is 5-0 or 4-1 at worst with the only potential loss being to a top 5 PSU. They will be top 5-7 either way cause costal media fucking LOVE the ducks. They then play Indiana, Rutgers, Whisky, @Iowa, Gopher, USC and Washington. I think Indiana is an either or with PSU. If they beat PSU I think they get full of themselves and lose to IU, lose to PSU they win IU. @Rutgers is a long haul but they are a bad team. Whisky is not good, USC will be in melt down mode and Washington is and the second toughest game of the year I think they lose @Iowa to a score of 6-7.  5-6 wins. So I can see 2-3 losses and Iowa will be ranked because that's what they do. 10-2 Oregon absolutely gets in as they'll be top 10, but I admit that could be 9-3 pretty easy. 

-LSU - Nussmeier gets lauded and then I watch him and I see a decent arm and mediocre decision-making. They replace 4 NFL picks on the OL and face the Clemson front to open. This keeps the streak of LSU opening season losses in tact. Weeks is great but coming off of injury, Perkins doesn't get to play Arkansas every week, the LSU front 4 is thin and meh. They have good WRs transferred in and Durham is a good RB. Good roster, multiple tough road games, Brian Kelly might kill someone. 

Brian Kelly is terrible and so is LSU. If he doesn't end up in prison he'll be on the job hunt.

-Miami - This was lazy voting. Beck is nothing special, their skill guys have a lot to prove, James Brockermeyer is their starting C. The defense returns a bunch of individual talent but they played like shit last year. Schedule skips Clemson and Ga Tech but Cristobal will find them an extra loss on his own.

I've drawn the similarities between Ewers and Beck many times. Take Ewers throw him on a team with questionable at best OL and unknowns at skill positions, combine that with a flat out bad D, you get a QB who doesn't make game 5. Miami doesn't belong in the conversation. 

-South Carolina (should not even be ranked) - These guys have two of the best players in the country at their respective positions (Edge and QB) plus an athletic freak at WR. They have to replace a ton outside of those guys. This is South Carolina. They don't just reload. Also, Sellers could very well go down due to overuse and they would fully crater at that point. While they miss Texas and Georgia, they have tough road games and two very competitive or rough OOC games. I see them struggling to finish with a winning record. 

This is my unjustified dark horse instinct pick of the this year. For reference NCSU was my instinct pick last year so my track record on these is less than stellar.

Ole Miss (should not even be ranked) - They blew their wad last year and didn't do nearly enough to replace everything they lost. Beyond that, Simmons doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. Show me. They're ranked here due to sloth and the Kiffin Halo Effect.

Okay looked at their schedule and I'll note prior I don't put any faith in Kiffin and agree with your halo effect assessment. 

Georgia State W

@Kentucky W but could lose 

pig W

Tulane  W

LSU W (what a terrible game this will be. I am only giving the W here cause its at home but my confidence is very low)

Washington State W (what a horrible OOC)

@Georgia L (If the wheels haven't come off they do here)

@Oklahoma L (I will be pulling for Lane which will make me sick and they will still lose to not good OU squad)

South Carolina L (leaning into my sleeper pick which tells me I'm probably wrong)

Citadel W (Good god, the SEC ooc is such shit)

Florida L (I am, perhaps unwisely buying Florida)

@MSU L  Kiffin has lost this team wheels are lost in the dust of this rivalry game that I wouldn't attend if offered thousands of dollars

So adding it up 7 wins max and I could see it being 5. 

-Tennessee (should not even be ranked) - I don't really know what in the fuck the voters were doing here. The QB is bottom of the P4 barrel, the SEC rushing leader is gone from the backfield and they return one starter on the OL. The defense returns some experience and they have a gift of a schedule outside of hosting Georgia early and at Bama the third Saturday in October. Maybe they luck into 9-3, but that's their ceiling and betting big on a new backfield.

Syracuse, East Tennessee (seriously East Tennessee?), UAB, NMSU, pig, MSU) 

6 wins and a lot of maybe/maybe not is what I see. What I don't see is 9 wins.

-Texas 8&4 (should not even be ranked) - I've built an entire thread covering these guys and why they're yet again overrated and will finish the season 8-5 or worse.

We have agreed on the subject before, this is the systemically most over rated top 25 team in the nation. They will somehow find a way to 8-5 when they should probably be a 6 win team.

Underrated:

-Alabama (yep) - top 5 team if the QB can play. Nothing crazy on the schedule and a top 3 roster in the country. Tons of experience back on defense at every level. Good RBs, good OL, dynamic WR in Williams. Daboer wins wherever he goes. I think they get to the semis or better this season unless QB is a joke.

QB doesnt even need to be good. Just consistent and not turn the ball over. I don't think this is a great team but they will win a lot of games for the reasons you mention.

-Arizona State - They return everyone but Skattebo and his replacement from Army is pretty fucking good. They have an excellent QB and WR too. These guys deserve to be ranked as a top 8 team heading into this season. Should have been a layup choice.

I noted that this one stood out, and it stands out the most. This is the easy, smart, feel good top 10 pick. I bet that is reflected in AP. In fact, AP might put them in or close to top 5. 

-Indiana - Schedule is trash again, 3 automatic wins in OOC, they avoid Ohio State and Michigan. Mendoza is a good QB, they bring back a bunch of other guys and Cignetti clearly knows what he's doing.

Agreed on all points.

-Iowa State - It pained me to say they're underrated, but Campbell is damned good whiny bitch of a coach. I like the QB and their defense is always terrific and tough to face with Heacock calling the set-ups.

-Missouri (their schedule virtually guarantees a 9-3 floor if Pribula is just decent) - They brought in high end guys at RB and WR along with Pribula, return most of their OL, and they'll have a good and experienced defense. People will start taking them more seriously after they beat SCar in September.

-Louisville (see Mizzou) - If you like Miller Moss in Brohm's system, you should like Louisville. The RB coming back is excellent as well. 

-Nebraska  - Year 3 for Rhule, usually a big deal for a program. Raiola looked great at times as a true freshman. Schedule is forgiving with no Ohio State and no Oregon. I could easily see 9-4 and ranked to close the year.

-Minnesota - Minnesota brings back a lot of experience. They need the QB to be okay and then their schedule can help them get to 8+ wins while still going to Ohio State and Oregon. Fleck gets shit on a lot by people but he's been great for Minnesota. He always seems to have them in a bowl. It's not hard to see 9-4 and ranked here either.

It might be all the Whisky tailgates I attended, my Tshirt love of Michigan, the winter time business trips to Minneapolis, my 10 years in Chicago or that I hate gophers for digging holes in my land but I won't buy Minnesota.

-Baylor - The Big 12 is wide open as usual, so who knows where this goes, but Baylor has many pieces needed to win the whole thing and make the playoff. They've got NFL talent at QB, RB, TE, OL and WR. Defensively, they have questions, but that's Aranda's field of expertise. Tough OOC hosting Auburn and going to SMU. They avoid ISU and Tech but get KSU, ASU, both early, and Utah late.

My hate of Rapelor is preventing me from buying in but I can't debate your logic.

-Washington - I like the QB and think Fisch is an excellent coach. Their defense is going to be stacked. They get Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, but they also face a weak OOC, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, Wisconsin, and UCLA. That's 8 wins. Beat Illinois or one of the big ones and they're a 9 win team.

Ohio State, @Michigan and @Oregon are the only 3 potential losses I see and I don't think all 3 are a given.

-Georgia Tech - They have a lot of experience and a tough SOB at QB. If Gideon doesn't shit the bed, they should be plenty good in an average ACC. They do play Georgia and then get Clemson in the ACC, but they avoid the rest of the top of the conference. These guys would beat ATM's ass on a neutral field. 

Georgia Tech and ASU are the 2 feel good underdog teams this year that will exceed expectations. This isn't my instinct/gut this is based on all the logic points you've made and other factors as well. Few teams defend what GT does offensively well.

I'll come back later on Iowa State, Missery, Nebraska and Louisville. Of those Louisville is the easiest sell, IMO. 

Edited by BurntEyes
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

So I took a minute to internalize and process some of the underrated and overrated @closetojumping were discussing. 

I started with the basic reality that Coaches polls, as I understand, have always been shooting from the hip sort of deal. These coaches or whoever is filling in the votes are in the middle of summer camp and the last thing they give a shit about is ranking teams much less looking at depth charts or schedules. 

So, they are going to vote on the things they know, historicals and sometimes for or against certain teams given bias or favoritism toward or against teams in their conference or for other reasons. See the voters in spoiler below, their teams and these biases will start to solidify. 

Big XII 6 voters B1G 9 voters SEC 8 voters ACC 7 voters (I own I may have missed some or got them incorrect)

Spoiler

Tim Albin, Charlotte; Dave Aranda, Baylor; Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jason Candle, Toledo; Ryan Carty, Delaware; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Bob Chesney, James Madison; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Manny Diaz, Duke; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, TCU; Jason Eck, New Mexico; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Luke Fickell, Wisconsin; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Penn State; Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame; Hugh Freeze, Auburn; Willie Fritz, Houston; Alex Golesh, South Florida; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Blake Harrell, East Carolina; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Charles Huff, Southern Mississippi; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; GJ Kinne, Texas State; Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic; Tre Lamb, Tulsa; Dan Lanning, Oregon; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State; Jeff Monken, Army; Jim Mora, Connecticut; Eric Morris, North Texas; Billy Napier, Florida; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Brian Newberry, Navy; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Jay Norvell, Colorado State; Gerad Parker, Troy; Brent Pry, Virginia Tech; Matt Rhule, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Jay Sawvel, Wyoming, Willie Simmons, Florida International; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Tulane; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio; Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso

Taking a quick examination of the Arizon State and Indiana University, what you have is 2 historically under performing schools that BOTH lost their most high profile and arguably most productive players to the draft. They aren't names in their conference nor historically. Their coaches are not well known historically either. They both had 1 really good year that caught the attention of the nation. So, knowing those facts, without looking at depth charts nor schedule, I could see it being extremely easy to dismiss them both, throw them somewhere in the top 25 and call it a day. In a interesting similar aspect, while Deboer and Bama are both known, they also lost their starting QB and so that aligns with the logic of them being at the lower end of top 10 in this less than in depth thought process of coach voters. 

I'll point out that Washington and Georgia Tech are simply lesser known and as such probably just skipped pushed to the lower end by non-ACC or B1G coaches. 

 

Posted
57 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

The fuck does that have to do with Mack Brown and his performances against OUsux?

Palate cleanser from the hourly "remember this awful shitty loss" moment on this board.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, texifornia said:

Palate cleanser from the hourly "remember this awful shitty loss" moment on this board.

Fair enough, but I might suggest not arguing with me about how well MB performed against Ousux in the first place. Particularly not on the first edition of the 2025 college football Coaches Poll thread. 

Edited by BurntEyes
Posted

Texas leads the way, Penn State tops Ohio State in preseason CBS Sports 136 

Rank Team 2024 Record      2024 Final Ranking
1 Texas 13-3 4
2 Penn State 13-3 5
3 Ohio State 14-2 1
4 Clemson 10-4 14
5 Georgia 11-3 6
6 Notre Dame 14-2 2
7 Oregon 13-1 3
8 Alabama 9-4 19
9 LSU 9-4 28
10 Miami 10-3 17
11 Arizona State 11-3 7
12 Florida 8-5 35
13 Illinois 10-3 15
14 Kansas State 9-4 27
15 Michigan 8-5 32
16 South Carolina 9-4 18
17 SMU 11-3 11
18 Texas A&M 8-5 33
19 Iowa State 11-3 16
20 Tennessee 10-3 10
21 Texas Tech 8-5 44
22 Ole Miss 10-3 12
23 Indiana 11-2 8
24 Oklahoma 6-7 58
25 Utah 5-7 84
Posted
On 8/4/2025 at 12:31 PM, Huckleberry said:

How many fan forums already have threads about how "Texas always gets overranked like this in the preseason" completely oblivious to the fact this is our first preseason #1 ranking ever?

I just heard that stat yesterday on the radio. That seems hard to believe. 

Posted

This year is crazy to me. I feel like nobody is talking about us as much as favorites in the past. It’s like everyone is like yeah they’re number one but let’s talk about everyone else. Hell, the sec network is literally ignoring our ranking and talking about everyone else instead. If it was Georgia or Alabama number one, they’d be throwing parades. I think that’s a good thing btw

Posted
On 8/5/2025 at 1:14 AM, SL Xpress said:

I hate watching James Franklin teams in big games. I've got a buddy who is a huge Penn State fan, so while my inclination is to root against them every game, for his sake I'd watch with a fan-by-proxy interest. Their offensive coordinator is shit on a stick. I hate his play calling. I hate how quickly he abandons a dominant run game. I hate their neanderthal passing offense. They do a terrible job building off their play calls. I know they're high on Khalil Dinkins, but man I loved to watch Tyler Warren. That guys seems really hard to replace. I'm not sold on Allar, although in his defense it may be the OC.

Franklin coaches scared, IMO, and his team takes on the same personality trait. It's like an even worse version of Mack Brown. 

They start the season with four home games, including Nevada, FIU, and Villanova before having to put their big boy pants on for the rematch with Oregon in their famed White Out game. For all I know Dan Lanning is going to have extras dressed up in Ku Klux Klan outfits at Oregon practices in some kind of effort to paint this as good versus evil. Oregon isn't exactly running a gauntlet, but Montana State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern (in Evanston) and Oregon State is a mite more challenging than the cream puffs PSU has slated. 

And then Frankin's manhood is challenged with that game in Columbus November 1. The whole Penn State narrative is that they can't beat Michigan or Ohio State. I assume they can make it to the playoff even losing to both Oregon and OSU if they win the rest of their games, but I don't know how they'd have the confidence to win against an elite team if that were to be the case. 

People can talk about how Texas hasn't won anything all they want, but road wins against Alabama two years ago, Michigan last year, and then beating teams that some of the best programs in the SEC managed to lose to (Alabama to Vanderbilt/OU, Ole Miss to Kentucky/Florida), plus dominating A&M and their little wanna be jihad, says that Texas can get it done in tough environments. 

I'll say this. I'd love to match up against Penn State in the playoffs, regardless of the round. 

I don’t think Kotelnicki is the problem with the offense. In fact I think he excelled at getting the 3 best players the ball in effective ways. Maybe outsmarted himself at the goal line at the end of the Ohio state game.

The problems with the Penn state offense last year were, in this order:

1. The WR group. Unbelievably bad

2. Franklin - he coached Allar to play scared early and it shows

3. Allar - he shows flashes but also shows a lot of meh. One of my friends that’s really high on him is a Pitt grad and thinks he’s hands down a legit nfl qb. I’ve told him that as of right now I think he’s closer to Hackenberg that a legit nfl qb. 

Allar is still really hard to evaluate based on results because the WRs were so bad last year. They could not get open. At times he still struggles with the short-intermediate chain movers. Some of that is on the WRs but it’s also on him. 

Not a single WR caught a pass in the notre dame game. Leading receivers were TE 6/75 yds, rb 2/33, te 2/21, te 1/7, rb 1/6. That’s unbelievable. 

He’s done some of his best work after he’s put them behind the 8 ball and had no choice but to play aggressive like the 2nd halves against usc and Oregon after throwing interceptions. 

I think the whole season comes down to how good the WRs are. All 3 of the wr at the top of the depth chart are transfers. Pro football focus gave them an honorable mention in their list of top 10 wr groups heading into the season. We’ll see about that. If they are good enough, can Allar do enough? 

The run game will be elite. If Singleton and Allen put up the same numbers they did last season they will finish their careers as 1 & 2 all time rushing leaders at Penn state. The oline is solid. 

Dinkins is good, I think Luke Reynolds will be the better TE. 

The defense should be elite again. Little question at LB but I think they’ll be fine. 

I think psu probably beats Oregon at home. 

I don’t know how anyone can expect psu to to beat osu @ osu until they do it. They don’t play Oregon. They should beat UM. So the big ten probably comes down to that game and you have to assume osu wins that game. They rematch in the big ten championship game and osu wins again. Psu wins a couple playoffs games against inferior teams and then has to play either Texas or osu in the semifinal. 

Even if you think psu is the better team on paper, it comes down to the head to head, in Columbus. And until Franklin wins it, you have to assume he fucks it up. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
Posted
On 8/6/2025 at 2:35 PM, Hookem10 said:

This year is crazy to me. I feel like nobody is talking about us as much as favorites in the past. It’s like everyone is like yeah they’re number one but let’s talk about everyone else. Hell, the sec network is literally ignoring our ranking and talking about everyone else instead. If it was Georgia or Alabama number one, they’d be throwing parades. I think that’s a good thing btw

Uh, wut?

I've heard more talk about Texas this offseason than I have my entire life. That was before the #1 ranking in the coaches' poll came out. This week I've seen a whole slew of talk about Texas all over again. Not everyone has Texas #1, but even when they don't there's a need to explain it, and an acknowledgement that Texas is going to be really good this year. 

The SEC talking heads, even when they're doing so reluctantly, consistently put Texas in the top tier with either Alabama and Georgia, or many talking heads will throw LSU in there. Sometimes there will be a fifth. One guy put A&M in the top category, and another put South Carolina in there, but those are outliers, and the people picking them admit they're not the same caliber as the other 4.

One thing I can say with certainty. We're not coming in under the radar this year. There's no way someone can make a credible argument around that. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
14 minutes ago, heso said:

I don’t think Kotelnicki is the problem with the offense. In fact I think he excelled at getting the 3 best players the ball in effective ways. Maybe outsmarted himself at the goal line at the end of the Ohio state game.

The problems with the Penn state offense last year were, in this order:

1. The WR group. Unbelievably bad

2. Franklin - he coached Allar to play scared early and it shows

3. Allar - he shows flashes but also shows a lot of meh. One of my friends that’s really high on him is a Pitt grad and thinks he’s hands down a legit nfl qb. I’ve told him that as of right now I think he’s closer to Hackenberg that a legit nfl qb. 

Allar is still really hard to evaluate based on results because the WRs were so bad last year. They could not get open. At times he still struggles with the short-intermediate chain movers. Some of that is on the WRs but it’s also on him. 

Not a single WR caught a pass in the notre dame game. Leading receivers were TE 6/75 yds, rb 2/33, te 2/21, te 1/7, rb 1/6. That’s unbelievable. 

He’s done some of his best work after he’s put them behind the 8 ball and had no choice but to play aggressive like the 2nd halves against usc and Oregon after throwing interceptions. 

I think the whole season comes down to how good the WRs are. All 3 of the wr at the top of the depth chart are transfers. Pro football focus gave them an honorable mention in their list of top 10 wr groups heading into the season. We’ll see about that. If they are good enough, can Allar do enough? 

The run game will be elite. If Singleton and Allen put up the same numbers they did last season they will finish their careers as 1 & 2 all time rushing leaders at Penn state. The oline is solid. 

Dinkins is good, I think Luke Reynolds will be the better TE. 

The defense should be elite again. Little question at LB but I think they’ll be fine. 

I think psu probably beats Oregon at home. 

I don’t know how anyone can expect psu to to beat osu @ osu until they do it. They don’t play Oregon. They should beat UM. So the big ten probably comes down to that game and you have to assume osu wins that game. They rematch in the big ten championship game and osu wins again. Psu wins a couple playoffs games against inferior teams and then has to play either Texas or osu in the semifinal. 

Even if you think psu is the better team on paper, it comes down to the head to head, in Columbus. And until Franklin wins it, you have to assume he fucks it up. 

I can go along with most of your well-balanced and reasoned post with the exception of one really glaring item. 

Your argument regarding the WR situation is the same one I hear every year from people about PSU, whether in the media or in the magazines. Phil Steele last year, paraphrasing, "last year WR was a weak spot because the receivers failed to get separation. this year they bring Julian Fleming (VHT #1!) and I expect them to be improved." If I felt like it, I'd grab the 2023 and check it as well and I bet he'd be saying something similar then, too. 

Pena from Syracuse was a fine WR last year. The dude from Troy is supposed to be electric. The guy from USC is more fool's gold. Is that enough to lift the passing game above the fray? I don't see it, and that's especially true when you consider that Warren had a dream season. The next guys at TE might be pretty solid, but that would still be a huge drop off. 

In any event, the real issue isn't WR or the OC or anything else other than Franklin himself. He's an obnoxious choker. He gets tight and his team's get tight and then he turtles the playcalling on offense. His record in big games is historically bad. Mack Brown looks at his record against Ohio State and thinks he needs to loosen up. In general, the guy is an overpaid pussy. You guys will never win a national title with that uptight penis-head running your program. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I can go along with most of your well-balanced and reasoned post with the exception of one really glaring item. 

Your argument regarding the WR situation is the same one I hear every year from people about PSU, whether in the media or in the magazines. Phil Steele last year, paraphrasing, "last year WR was a weak spot because the receivers failed to get separation. this year they bring Julian Fleming (VHT #1!) and I expect them to be improved." If I felt like it, I'd grab the 2023 and check it as well and I bet he'd be saying something similar then, too. 

Pena from Syracuse was a fine WR last year. The dude from Troy is supposed to be electric. The guy from USC is more fool's gold. Is that enough to lift the passing game above the fray? I don't see it, and that's especially true when you consider that Warren had a dream season. The next guys at TE might be pretty solid, but that would still be a huge drop off. 

In any event, the real issue isn't WR or the OC or anything else other than Franklin himself. He's an obnoxious choker. He gets tight and his team's get tight and then he turtles the playcalling on offense. His record in big games is historically bad. Mack Brown looks at his record against Ohio State and thinks he needs to loosen up. In general, the guy is an overpaid pussy. You guys will never win a national title with that uptight penis-head running your program. 

I don’t disagree with most of that. I expected Fleming to be better than he was. His best game was 2 catches for 60 yards and 0 tds against Kent state in a game that ended 56-0.

He finished the season with 14 catches for 176 yards and 1 TD. 

His last 7 games he had 1 catch for 5 yards. There was a reason he was getting g passed on Ohio states depth chart by true freshman. 

Of PSU’s top 6 players in receiving yards, only 2 were WRs. 

The year before that the “big” addition at WR was Dante Cephas who had 1 good season in the mac and then went 22/246/2 at Penn state in ‘23 and then 15/124/0 at k-state in ‘24. 

The WR position has been a disaster the last 2-3 seasons. There’s been no Chris Godwin or even Jahan Dotson. 

Parker Washington leaving early to be a sixth round pick. Keandre Lambert-Smith transferring to auburn. The terrible evaluations of the transfer portal WRs. 

The drying up of what was a decent string of WRs is real. But the problems all fall on Franklin. Not the least of which was his hire of Yurcich at OC, who was a fucking disaster and surely contributed to KLS and Washington leaving. 

Edited by heso
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

I blanked in Yurick being at PSU. I think it was probably selective memory loss to help with my PTSD. Yeah, that and Franklin's proclivity to shit his pants at the first hint of trouble is problematic.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...