1 Ohio State
2 Michigan State
3 Mississippi
4 TCU
5 Baylor
6 Notre Dame
7 UCLA
8 Georgia
9 LSU
10 Utah
Those 10 teams only include 1 OSU/Bama Team. It seems as part of this debate about VT's future there's been a lot of mentioning how VT isnt OSU/Bama and we are right about where we should be.
Anyone want to tell the Head coaches or players of those 10 teams they aren't supposed to be there?
This is 2015 you play, coach, and recruit to win and be in the Championship. Anyone want to talk about stealing recruits with UCLA, they share a city with A monster football school. To small a school to win? Again this year Baylor and TCU are up there. Mississippi? Huh,They can win in Oxford, I always thought it was just the pregame to the night's party. Michigan State was only supposed to be a basketball school
Comments
Come on now, Utah is a POWERHOUSE.
Kyle Whittingham will always have that Sugar Bowl blowout win over Nick Saban on his record. He's all right with me.
But it doesn't include us
And it will stay that way until VT learns how to play in the rain. And in dry weather.
Don't forget snow. If we somehow pulled off a miracle season, it would snow and screw us.
My take on all these teams...
1) Ohio State - buy - they've earned it and haven't really shown anything to cause them to relinquish it... yet
2) Michigan State - buy - they've been building for a while and it shows
3) OIe Miss - sell - jury is out because SEC inflation is always a possibility, and I'm not impressed with that close home win against Vandy
4) TCU - hold - they've looked entirely beatable this year
5) Baylor - hold - need to play somebody before I decide
6) Notre Dame - buy - I hate them, but they, like us, have gotten their 2nd-string QB ready to play
7) UCLA - buy - can't put as much stock into their BYU win, but man, did they embarrass RichRod
8) Georgia - buy - Go Dawgs (I just went full homer)
9) LSU - buy, tentatively - if Leonard Fournette goes down, their offense is in trouble
10) Utah - buy - they very well could go to the Pac12CG
Now, to answer your points:
You mention UCLA, Baylor, TCU, Ole Miss, and Michigan State and how they are playing, coaching, and recruiting to win and be in the Championship. Granted, and I can't argue because the evidence is there. But with each of those teams, look where they came from.
* UCLA was us (or worse) before Mora stepped in. From Karl Dorrell to Rick Neuheisel, they were middling to embarrassing save 2005. Oh, and "too small" is a horrible descriptor for them because they're the largest university in California.
* Art Briles inherited one of the worst P5 teams in the nation in Baylor and just now turned them respectable, to say nothing of how they look like they'll be contending for a while.
* TCU has been good to great for over a decade (there was a lull) so no surprise there.
* After last year's media lovefest with the Mississippi schools and how they fell flat on their faces, I'm not calling them "winners" yet. We'll see.
* Eight of the top 10 schools have won national championships in their history. Including "basketball school" Michigan State, who also went through a huge lull before Dantonio.
These things are cyclical. We haven't been seriously in any championship talks since maybe 2011, but before that we had been consistently in the discussion. Those lulls that the teams I mentioned went through before this year? We're going through ours now.
Thank you, good sir, for saving me from typing basically that exact same second paragraph. In addition, I'd like to simply point out that it's only week 4, so probably half those schools won't be up there by season's end. I'd liken Baylor and Utah right now to Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann in the 2012 Republican Primary. They've done well and gotten high up in the polls early on, but it's pretty doubtful that it's sustainable.
I haven't been incredibly impressed with OSU this season. They seem beatable. That being said I see them closing season in playoffs again.
Mich St always, always beat themselves.
agree on Ole Miss, TCU, Baylor, Notre Dame (unfortunately)
UCLA and Georgia are both a hold for me because it's been a long time since either team finished a season anywhere near a Conference Championship.
LSU hold for the same reason you said.
Agree on Utah.
2012 is a long time? That's only two seasons
thought they were only division champs in 2012. lost to Bama right?
Yea and were literally 10 yards from winning. How is that nowhere near a championship?
ok, sure. you got me.
Fact is though, 10 yards away might as well have been 1000 yards. they didn't win. Like the 2012 game I don't buy that they can until they do.
You know what I'd like to see? I wanna see Notre Dane win a conference championship and actually earn all the love they get every year. /s
Well, they're in the lead of the Independents.
The question is part of this debate about VT's future there's been a lot of mentioning how VT isnt OSU/Bama and we are right about where we should be.
So the changing of coaches didn't help the schools. Should we live in the past let Beamer keep going til he decides he's ready to go or look towards getting out of the lull and stop saying only OSU and Bama can play championship football. Lulls last as long as the AD and fans let it. Art took Baylor from worst Team to Top 25 Team in 4 years and Title conversation in 2 more years
TCU didn't get in to the Power 5 til 2012. As good as they were it doesn't matter unless your in the Power 5
UCLA compared to USC since the share the same city. In terms of Football tradition
I respect the past but let's count championships won only after the U. So much has changed and to count early games isnt fair. Daniel Tosh joke on baseball and Babe Ruth
I'm buying on Ole Miss just on the merit of High Freeze. He might be my favorite P5 coach. Dude knows his shit.
I wasn't convinced of it last year (especially after the TCU debacle in Atlanta) but I think the boys from Oxford are the real deal this year. Treadwell and Walton stay healthy and you'll see them in the playoffs...and not to mention this...
Also the Nkemdiche's are just plain nasty on the field. So much fun to watch that defense.
I think the whole point of this article was to criticized the view point that our lack of recruiting is keeping us out of the Top 10 and the blame the lack of recruiting on being in Blacksburg and not being the traditional powerhouse (the OSU/BAMA types) while a ton of non-powerhouse teams are currently the Top 10. In a nutshell the recent excuses are just bunk.
The first comment about things being cyclical is really important. We've been up in the top ten in week 4 before too, only to flame out. Let's see what the final poll shows before we draw any major conclusions.
Beating the Hoos must have done a lot for the national perception of UCLA. Cough!
I am so wary of September champions and Heisman candidates.
The most talented teams, the ones with the most depth, and the ones with the best coaches will be the teams that are there at the end. Every team has to figure out stuff as they go along. September is where they work the bugs out.
The thing you can't predict is the luck factor. You need to be lucky with injuries, win a game you probably should have lost, and get a ball to deflect right to your guy - stuff like that.
There are some teams in our top 10's now that will be out of the top 25 by the end, and there are a few teams in the 15-25 range that will be surging late. But talent, depth, and coaching will carry the day for the most part, and then you might have that team that gets the magic dust sprinkled on it. No way to predict it.
But I really like UCLA, Georgia, LSU, Utah, Ole Miss - among others. Need to see them do it for another 8 weeks though. I have my eye on Oklahoma. If they can play a lick of defense, I think they can beat TCU and Baylor - who don't.
So, Ole Miss. (Although luck was trying to keep Alabama in it, with five turnovers, but only losing by one score, and that onside kick being the only one I've actually seen work all season.)
Naturally, I like any team that can beat Alabama, and I do like their coach and most of their players. But Chad Kelly was just rubbing me the wrong way just watching him play.
Yeah, I mostly agree with that - especially about Kelly. I think Alabama is still the best in that conference - again, looking at talent, depth, and coaching. They just aren't getting good enough QB play, and there are a few leaks in that defense on the back end. I fully expect them to beat Georgia this week, and I think when it all settles out, they will be there at the end. If they don't, then that program has definitely fallen down a few notches, and I won't be sad about that.
But I also really like the talent Ole Miss has on offense and defense. With them the concern is depth, and whether they can play at a high level in November. But to your point, you do get the sense that Kelly will do something really stupid that loses them a game at some point.
The cousins are ranked this week.
It made me sick to my stomach.
Fact: 9 > 8