Tag: Preseason polls

LSU ranked in the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports preseason coaches poll

Jay Johnson’s squad starts the season in the top 10.

LSU is ranked No. 7 in the 2022 USA TODAY Sports preseason coaches poll, marking the Tigers’ fifth Top 10 appearance in a preseason poll.

LSU’s previously released preseason rankings are No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 4 by Perfect Game, No. 8 by D1 Baseball, and No. 10 by Baseball America.

The Tigers start the first season of Jay Johnson’s tenure with high rankings and high expectations. This is understandable because a young LSU team made the Super Regionals last year and new head coach Jay Johnson led the Arizona Wildcats to a Pac-12 Championship and the College World Series. With a ton of returning talent and some new talent, expect the Tigers to make some noise in “The Box” this season.

The Tigers have been engaged in preseason training and scrimmages since January 28, and the 2022 season begins at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, February 18, when LSU plays host to Maine in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU is one of eight Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the USA Today 2022 preseason Top 25, along with No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 3 Mississippi State, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 10 Florida, No. 16 Tennessee, and No. 17 Georgia.

Texas, which will face LSU on March 5 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, is No. 1 in the USA Today ranking.

2022 USA Today Preseason Top 25

AP Photo/Wade Payne

*(2021 records in parentheses)

1. Texas (50-17)
2. Vanderbilt (49-18)
3. Mississippi State (50-18)
4. Arkansas (50-13)
5. Stanford (39-17)
6. Mississippi (45-22)
7. LSU (38-25)
8. Oklahoma State (36-19-1)
9. North Carolina State (37-19)
10. Florida (38-22)
11. Notre Dame (34-13)
12. Texas Tech (39-17)
13. East Carolina (44-17)
14. Florida State (31-24)
15. Arizona (45-18)
16. Tennessee (50-18)
17. Georgia (31-25)
18. TCU (41-19)
19. UC Irvine (43-18)
20. Oregon State (37-24)
21. Virginia (36-27)
22. Dallas Baptist (41-18)
23. Georgia Tech (31-25)
24. UCLA (37-20)
25. Duke (33-22)

CBS Sports (again) ranks Auburn as overrated in preseason polls

Auburn starts the season at No. 11 in the Associated Press Poll.

There are at least two writers at CBS Sports that thinks the Auburn Tigers are overrated heading into the 2020 college football season.

After stating that Gus Malzahn’s team was overrated in the AP Top 25 at No. 11 when the first poll comes out, the outlet doubled down in its predictions and season preview piece on Tuesday.

Tom Fornelli writes:

Auburn: There’s a negative connotation that comes with the word overrated, but to be clear, I don’t think Auburn’s going to be bad. I’m just not part of the group who believes it to be a top-10 team. I have serious concerns about the team’s offensive line and how it will hold up in a 10-game SEC schedule that won’t allow it many chances to breathe. That line will also be tasked with protecting Bo Nix, a quarterback who already comes with plenty of accuracy issues. I’m not sure he’ll be able to improve upon them if he’s under a lot of pressure. These offensive concerns limit Auburn’s overall ceiling.

Understandable. A remake of the offensive line is a major worry for the Tigers heading into the season but, for Jerry Palm, another writer for CBS Sports, he sees the season going a much different way for Malzahn, predicting that Auburn will be one of the last two teams out of the College Football Playoff.

Who will be right and who will be wrong? We shall start to see on Saturday, Sept. 26 as the Tigers host Kentucky in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

 

AP Poll: Texas lands at No. 14 in preseason rankings

After making the top 10 last season, Texas falls just short of that in 2020. Instead, the Longhorns debut at No. X in the preseason AP poll.

College football may look different this year, but you can expect preseason polls to remain constant. Even though the Big Ten and Pac-12 canceled their fall seasons, the AP poll is still including the two conferences in their initial poll.

After making the top 10 last season, Texas falls just short of that escalade in 2020. Instead, the Longhorns debut at No. 14 in the preseason AP poll. This marks the fourth year in a row Texas will begin the season ranked.

Here is the full top 25:

  1. Clemson
  2. Ohio State
  3. Alabama
  4. Georgia
  5. Oklahoma
  6. LSU
  7. Penn State
  8. Florida
  9. Oregon
  10. Notre Dame
  11. Auburn
  12. Wisconsin
  13. Texas A&M
  14. Texas
  15. Oklahoma State
  16. Michigan
  17. USC
  18. North Carolina
  19. Minnesota
  20. Cincinnati
  21. UCF
  22. Utah
  23. Iowa State
  24. Iowa
  25. Tennessee
Others receiving votes:

Memphis 86, Virginia Tech 85, Boise State 68, Arizona State 66, Miami (FL) 42, Louisville 32, Appalachian State 26, Washington 21, Kentucky 20, Indiana 19, Baylor 15, California 11, TCU 9, Virginia 7, Navy 6, Florida State 6, SMU 3, Mississippi State 3, Air Force 3, Northwestern 1, UAB 1

Related: Preseason Amway Coaches Poll: Texas cracks top 15

As for the rest of the Big 12, three other teams made the top 25. Oklahoma (No. 5) is the highest-ranked conference team, Oklahoma State (No. 15) is a preseason top 25 team for the first time since 2017, and Iowa State (No. 24) rounds off the conference teams.

Despite not having seasons, six Big Ten and three Pac-12 teams are ranked. Once the college football season begins on Sept. 12, schools from the two conferences will drop out of the poll.

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Irish Ranked Highly in another Pre-Season Poll

It seems like all but a certainty that Notre Dame Football will be ranked inside the Top 10 to start the season.

Other outlets have updated their pre-season Top 25 and it was 247Sports turn to do the same thing but with a caveat. “This isn’t an updated version of something 247Sports put out in the winter. This is a start-from-ground-zero ranking that takes into account an offseason worth of coaching changes, recruiting wins and transfers.” I’m sure other publications take this into their equations as well, but the eight experts polled by 247Sports just wanted to make sure you knew the criteria for their rankings.

With that in mind, Notre Dame has come in 8th in this newest update. At first glance, noticing the Irish ranking 83rd overall in returning production is a bit scary.  This shouldn’t be a concern at all, look at the rest of the teams ranked in this Top 10. Each of the top three schools, Ohio State, Clemson and Alabama are in comparable returning production areas, while Oklahoma, who is ranked 7th is just one spot ahead of the Irish.

The Irish preview starts on the offensive end as “Notre Dame has maintained some offensive continuity this offseason by promoting quarterback coach Tommy Rees.” The offensive line will clearly be a strength for the Irish this season but having to replace each skill position starter is a challenge. Chris Hummer, who wrote the snippet, see that “there’s a strong skill cast beside him and some exciting impact freshman (Chris Tyree, Jordan Johnson) than can help right away.” It is a lot to ask for freshman to be big time contributors, but the Tyree, the Virginia running back and Johnson, the Missouri wide receiver could do just that. Look out for Kentucky tight end Michael Mayer to make an impact as a first-year player as well.

Looking on the other side of the ball, Hummer is a bit worried about the “defense is far more of a question mark with just five defensive starters returning.” Yes, it is a bit worrisome but as I mentioned earlier, returning production doesn’t tell the whole picture. “You have to trust coordinator Clark Lea, though. He’s put together back-to-back top 15 defenses.” The trust is there, with a reworked secondary and the emergence last year of linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah the base for a solid defense is there.

As we have seen the Irish have been ranked somewhere in this range by the majority of outlets. A pre-season Top 10 ranking will bring a lot of expectations in South Bend. Brian Kelly will have his work cut out for him to finish with Notre Dame’s fourth consecutive 10-plus win seasons.

USA Today Releases Preseason Top 25, Where was Notre Dame Ranked?

Once again the Irish are ranked high, but just how high is the question entering the 2020 campaign.

Once again, the college football world is seeing another way too early Top 25,this time by the USA Today. It has become fairly obvious that the Irish are among the best teams in the nation and they have been ranked accordingly.

Checking in at 10th overall in the country, Brian Kelly’s team has the makings of one that can make a run for a final four spot in the College Football Playoff. The USA Today notes that the goal is to win a national championship, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Since the inception of the CFP in the 2014-15 season, only 4 schools have been crowned champions: Ohio State and LSU winning it once, Alabama and Clemson each owning two titles.

It seems like the USA Today has narrowed in on the offense for the Irish, as they questioned if Tommy Rees at such a young age, 27, could lead the offense to the promise land. When Rees took over for Chip Long before the Camping World Bowl many wondered what the offense would look like with a new leader. Rees led the offense to 33 points, with QB Ian Book going 20/28 for 247 yards, a TD and no interceptions. Tony Jones Jr. went off for 135 yards on just 11 carries and WR Chase Claypool benefited from Book’s good day with 7 receptions and 146 yards with the lone TD through the air. Although the offense put up plenty of points, there will still be some questions regarding how Rees will call an entire season when teams get a more advance look at what concepts he likes to deploy. A spring game would have been huge for Rees’ development as the play caller.

Although there are some questions for Notre Dame going into the 2020 season, not many teams don’t, there are some very encouraging signs. The whole offensive line returns, sack leader Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah returns for what could be a huge junior year, leading tackler LB Drew White is also back, and a reworked secondary has plenty of weapons. The Irish are poised to be a Top 10 team entering 2020 and the USA Today’s ranking once again confirms that.

NCAA.com Releases Preseason Top 25, Ranks Texas Inside Top 15

NCAA.com has released their preseason top 25 for 2020. Once again, Texas is highly ranked in preseason polls, placing within the top 15.

Wayne Staats of NCAA.com has released his preseason top 25 for the 2020 season and once again, the Longhorns are highly ranked. Ranking Texas at No. 14 in the country, Tom Herman’s squad will begin another season with high expectations.

Here is what Staats had to say about Texas:

The Longhorns started in the top 10 and lost by only 7 to LSU but then fell to 6-5. Reason for optimism? the ‘Horns crushed Texas Tech and then No. 11 Utah in the Alamo Bowl by 28 to end the season on a positive note. And QB Sam Ehlinger will be back. However, a euphoric bowl win in the 2018 season didn’t exactly mean good things for 2019.

Much like the end of the 2018 season, a bowl win against a highly ranked Power 5 team is giving Texas optimism for the upcoming season. It ended poorly this past season and changes were made throughout the coaching staff. Now, the Longhorns must prove they deserve to be ranked so highly.

Here are the rest of the rankings:

  1. Clemson
  2. Ohio State
  3. Alabama
  4. LSU
  5. Georgia
  6. Oregon
  7. Oklahoma
  8. Penn State
  9. Florida
  10. Auburn
  11. Notre Dame
  12. Oklahoma State
  13. Texas A&M
  14. Texas
  15. Michigan
  16. Wisconsin
  17. North Carolina
  18. Minnesota
  19. USC
  20. UCF
  21. Cincinnati
  22. Utah
  23. Iowa State
  24. Iowa
  25. Arizona State

Staats controversially has Texas ranked below in-state rivals Texas A&M. While the Longhorns and Aggies have not played a game since 2011, the rivalry has continued off the field, mainly through preseason rankings and recruiting. Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M come in at No. 13, with hopes and dreams of winning the SEC West.

As for the rest of the Big 12, three other teams are ranked, starting with Oklahoma at No. 7. Oklahoma State comes in at No. 12, while Iowa State wraps up the conference at No. 23. Only the SEC and Big 10 have more ranked teams than the Big 12, with six teams each.

The Longhorns’ big-time non-conference opponent, LSU, is ranked No. 4, fresh off a national championship. Coach Orgeron and the Tigers will be playing host to Texas in week two of the season, set up to be one of the games of the season.

Being ranked inside the top 15 may be a stretch this early in the year. While the foundation is there for the Longhorns to be successful, there is a lot they must prove to deserve such a high ranking. Many tests will occur throughout the season, showing if Texas is legitimately worthy of being a top 15 team in the country, or if the same let down will occur.

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