Coaches Poll Reaction
Today, the Coaches Poll was released. This is the first official look fans have into the upcoming college football season. There are some rankings that we knew going in would happen. Alabama is number one, the SEC has a majority of the teams in the rankings, and Tennessee is highly over ranked. These are all givens at the beginning of the season.
For those who have yet to see the rankings, they go as followed:
For the most part, everything seems in order. But there are some aspects that need addressing.
Tennessee at 10
Tennessee has been ranked at the beginning of the season three times in the last decade. They have only finished the season ranked once. That was in 2007. Tennessee ranked as having the 15th best recruiting class for this current freshman class. Half of the teams in front of them are ranked lower than the Volunteers or are unranked.
Last year, Tennessee went 9-4. A decent record by any standard. They beat two ranked teams last year. Georgia, who always drops one game to an unranked team every year, and Northwestern in their bowl game. They also face an incredibly easy schedule every year.
The SEC East has been very weak for the past three years. Florida and Georgia are inconsistent, Vanderbilt is never any good, Missouri, Kentucky, and South Carolina are trash right now. Tennessee's high ranking is not warranted. The out-of-conference schedule is laughable. Appalachian State, Ohio, Tennessee Tech, and Virginia. All are home games.
While this may hurt other teams below Tennessee, they will be gone by the end of the Alabama game.
UCLA at 24
This looks like a slap in the face to UCLA. While they may have gone 8-5 last year, they played in some close games. Only one loss to a ranked opponent and that team had a Heisman candidate running all over the place.
UCLA did lose some talent like Myles Garrett and Kenny Clark, but they are a powerhouse of the west as of late. Josh Rosen is on the Heisman watch list right now. He could be the best sophomore quarterback this year. They have a decent out-of-conference schedule. The Bruins play Texas A&M, UNLV, and BYU. These games are all at the front of the schedule, so the PAC-12 teams will get a good idea of what they are made of come week four against Stanford.
UCLA is going to be a team to watch out for this season. Rosen with the ball in his hands is dangerous. Without Goff in the conference, Rosen is the best quarterback on the west coast.
Oregon at 22
This team should not be ranked. Oregon showed last year that they were a one trick pony with Marcus Mariota. They were the only team to make the playoffs and be unranked at one point the following season. Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida State all remained in the top 20 for the entire year. The Ducks, once again, are a one trick pony with Royce Freeman taking the bulk of the carries.
After last year's bowl loss to TCU, which was the greatest bowl comeback in recent memory, the Duck have nothing to offer on either side of the ball. The only other possible player is wide receiver Charles Nelson, but they have yet to decide on who will be throwing the ball. There are too many questions around this team and they should not be ranked when teams like Miami and Wisconsin have a much bigger upside than the Ducks have this season.
They biggest question ESPN has right now for the Ducks is will they beat Washington again this season. And speaking of Washington...
Washington at 18
Who do you know here? How did you get here? Washington ended last season 7-6, beating out Southern Mississippi in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. They did manage wins over #17 USC and #20 Washington State, but dropped games to teams like Oregon and Arizona State. They were inconsistent.
The success of this team will be around quarterback Jake Browning and if he can make the next step to becoming top-tier player in the conference. Browning tossed for 2955 yards last season with 16 touchdowns. The downside of this is that that Husky signal caller was sacked 30 times. If this team does not get their offensive line together, how do they expect to succeed?
They do benefit from having two of their three ranked matches at home (Stanford and USC), but that may not be enough.
Week One Will Be Nuts
There are four ranked matches in week one alone. Some that could have Playoff implications for each team involved.
#6 LSU vs Wisconsin
#12 Ole Miss vs # 4 Florida St. (Neutral Site)
Either way, College Football is almost here and fans are ready to hear those glorious words...
"WAKE UP! IT'S GAME DAY!"
